Her Name is Alma
by rog3r
Summary: She was just a little girl, yet she would alter the futures of two men forever.
1. FEAR Interval 00 : Consultation

_This story is written for the enjoyment of the author and its readers. This work of fiction is purely for non-profit reasons. Any resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is purely coincidence. All characters and events portrayed within are copyright of Monolith and Vivendi_

This FanFiction is rated **T FOR TEEN. **It contains **STRONG ADULT LANGUAGE AND BLOOD AND GORE. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.**

* * *

**HER NAME IS ALMA.**  
By Roger Jones

* * *

_"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."_

~ Frank Herbert

* * *

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The electronic ringing of their phone raised the elderly gentleman from his slumber. He squinted in the darkness, looking at the clock. 3:04 am. Grumbling silently, he answered the phone.

"Yes?" he said sleepily, looking to see if his wife was still asleep.

"Sorry to wake you Senator. It is about Origin." came the cool female voice on the other line. That woke him up right away. She said the magic word.

"What happened?"

"There was an uprising. Fettel has taken command of the prototypes."

"My God." he whispered, rubbing sleep from his eyes. That was now beyond him, and would be for the rest of the night. He took a deep breath.

"We can still resolve this discretely, but we have to move fast." the woman continued. She always knew how to deal with any situation that presented itself. This was something completely new though, the Senator grumbled to himself. How could anyone know how to deal with it? Well, the only thing to do now was move forward.

"All right, all right." He said, switching on the lamp on his nightstand and opening the drawer up, rummaging through it. "Let me… make a few calls."

He would need a stiff drink after this.

* * *

**F.E.A.R.  
Interval 00  
CONSULTATION**

"This whacko's name is Paxton Fettel. He's the key. If we contain him, we contain the situation."

"Fucker's got an appetite."

A sigh confirming my fears that this was how all of the F.E.A.R. briefings went. Commissioner "Rowdy" Rodney Betters would give an overview of the situation, and then Lieutenant Spencer Jankowski would make a smart-ass comment about it. I had been transferred to this strangely named unit less than a week ago, but already I was slightly regretting my decision. This would be my first big mission.

On the monitors it showed a man, Paxton Fettel according to Commissioner Betters, hunched over another human being. The monitor didn't show much, but Fettel was roughly my build, with black hair cut in a crew-cut style, and wearing a leather jacket with some sort of military insignia on it. Blood and flesh leaked from his mouth over his chin.

Gross.

I burned the image into my head, leaning against one of the several consoles in the briefing room.

"I think he has an agenda. It's not just recreational. He's getting something out of it," said Jin Sun-Kwon, the field medic and forensics specialist of Alpha squad, as well as the only female in the entire F.E.A.R. organization.

"What, essential vitamins and nutrients?" Jankowski said, chuckling over his joke and crossing his arms. The Lieutenant was an imposing man, a few inches taller than me and several pounds heavier. His hair was completely shaved, and his goatee was trimmed neatly.

"He's property of Armacham Technology Corporation. They're working on a military contract to develop an army of clones that respond to a psychic commander. Top secret, of course," Betters said, setting his mug of coffee down on one of the consoles and straightening his hat, emblazoned with F.E.A.R. on it. "Fettel is one of the commanders."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me. This is why nobody takes us seriously. Military clones?" Jankowski snorted.

"A full battalion of them. Highly trained and heavily armed," Betters responded, staring his lieutenant in the eyes.

Jankowski wouldn't let him have the last word though.

"A fucking battalion! What are we supposed to do against a thousand super soldiers?"

"Like I said, we put Fettel down, and it's over," Betters rubbed his eyes, and I felt some sympathy for our commissioner. The old man was a soldier at one point, and I knew it was killing him to give the orders rather than hefting a machine gun and coming in with us. "Fortunately, the whole point of the program is to give commanders firsthand knowledge of the battlefield without putting them in danger. That means we should be able to corner the bastard without having to wade through all those soldiers."

Jankowski opened his mouth to respond.

"How do we find him?" Jin's cool voice ended the argument and silenced Jankowski.

"Armacham implanted a transmitter in his head. It should lead us right to him."

"That's awfully convenient..." Jankowski muttered sullenly. I had to agree. You don't usually put secret tracking devices into the heads of your own people.

"Assuming it does what it's supposed to," Betters said, before looking in my direction for literally the first time this whole meeting. "What about you, buddy? Ready to go to work?"

I took a deep breath, and was about to say something when Jankowski exploded.

"You're putting him in the field? Are you crazy? He just transferred in a week ago!" he said, sizing me up. I shot him a look back.

"You've seen his training results. His reflexes are totally off the charts. I think he can handle himself," Betters shot back. I love it when people talk about me like I'm not even in the room. "So, you ready rook?"

I glanced at Jankowski, who was shaking his head. I smirked slightly. Too bad, man, you're just gonna have to deal with it.

"Let's do it."

* * *

Soon, I was sitting shotgun in Betters' car as we drove through the semi-busy streets of the Auburn Industrial District.

"We've tracked Fettel to an abandoned building just up ahead. No sign of enemy activity on the satellite, but don't take any chances."

I slid the fully loaded magazine into my AT-14 pistol with a click, drawing the slide back to chamber a .45 bullet, and then releasing. I safetied the pistol and holstered it, glancing at Betters and

_What's the first thing that you remember?_

reassuring him that I wouldn't. This was my first mission, and I

_Nooooo! Where are you taking him?_

wouldn't screw it up.

I couldn't screw it up.

The car turned into an alley and eventually slowed to a stop. Dumpsters and trash lined the pair of warehouses that made up the walls in this alley. Betters pulled out a laptop computer, putting a headset on.

"Jankowski. You in position?" it was strange hearing Betters' voice right next to me as well as over my own headset plugged into my right ear. The lieutenant's voice crackled in my ear.

"Just say the word."

"Roger. Move it out."

I took this as my clue to leave as well, and opened the car

_You will be a God among men._

door and stepped out into the cool night. I slammed the door, watching Betters put the car in reverse and pull back out the alley. When the headlights were gone, I took a deep breath, pulled out my pistol, and headed off down the alley and into the night.

* * *

**A/N (6/26/09): Updated the chapter name to fit in with the '_tion' theme of all of the Intervals.**

**A/N (7/20/11): Edited the formatting errors and poor language.**


	2. FEAR Interval 01 : Inception

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 01**

**Inception**

SITUATION:

F.E.A.R. mission coordinator, Rowdy Betters, has tracked enemy commander,

Paxton Fettel, to an abandoned building in the Auburn district.

Hannibal-3 spy satellite in geosynchronous orbit shows no sight of Replica

soldiers in vicinity.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. combat operatives will infiltrate target site from two separate entry

points and attempt to neutralize Fettel. According to Armacham technical

advisor, once Fettel is contained, Replica soldiers will become inactive and

can be rounded up without incident.

---

I jogged lightly down the alleyway, taking time to duck under and scale a few fences that were in my way. The night was slightly warm, yet not uncomfortably so. In the distance, the rest of the area went about its business as usual. I could hear the rumbling of cars, the sirens of police cruisers, and even the faint humming of conversation.

But my mind was completely on the job. Neutralizing Fettel. But as I approached the run-down building, I began to question a few things.

Why did he come here of all places?

I held my pistol in my right hand as I approached the door, getting to the left side of the entry way and reaching for the handle with my left hand. My gun trained on the door as I twisted the knob and pushed…

And the door fell off its hinges with a huge clang. I winced at the noise, entering the decrepit building, holding my pistol in the weaver stance.

Crash! I pointed my gun to where the sound came from to see Jankowski smashing through a window in a pair of boarded up doors.

"What took you so long, bro?" He asked, waving. "Watch where you're pointing that thing."

I lowered the gun, sheepishly. Jankowski pulled his sub-machine gun back through the broken window, and glanced around.

"Try to find a way around. We'll rendezvous up ahead."

"Roger." I said, and with that, we headed off again. The entryway held nothing of value, just a long abandoned storage room. The only thing on those shelves was a thick layer of dust. So, I headed upstairs.

As I walked up the stairs, my radio crackled. I figured it was from Jankowski, so I didn't pay it any mind. As I reached the top of the stairs, I saw something.

It was a man, and he walked through the empty doorway directly in front of me. It wasn't Fettel, far as I could tell from my current position, but it was definitely a man.

"Hey, hold on." I said, extending my hand and holstering my pistol. The man paid me no heed, and disappeared out of sight on the other side of the doorway. I walked towards the door and crossed the threshold, turning right, expecting to see the man.

But the hallway in front of me was empty. Unless the man started sprinting he couldn't have reached the bend before I crossed the room.

But people don't just disappear into thin air, right?

_Why did you bring me back here?_

I froze. That thought in my head was definitely not mine. First I was seeing shit, and now I'm hearing it?

"Just take it easy." I muttered, wiping the sweat from my brow. I almost laughed from the irony. Now I was talking to myself. Great.

I strode down the hallway, still trying to shake that strange thought from my head. I started towards another empty storage room, when another sound drew me out of my thoughts.

It sounded like a woman crying. I started over to the window, trying to see down if I could see a prostitute or something near the building. The windows were greasy and dirty from many long years of regret, and I wiped my gloved hand over them to clean it off.

As soon as I touched the window, the door in front of me slammed shut. I spun, pointing my gun at the door as my heart hammered in my chest. Sweat trickled down my forehead.

"Very funny Jankowski." I said, trying to keep my voice strong. Honestly, the door slamming made me jump like I never had before in my life. "Hazing the new guy. Real mature. We're on a mission right now."

I walked towards the door, gun pointed. I touched the cool metal with my gloved hand, but underneath the leather my hands were sweating profusely. I turned the knob, and pulled the door open.

The storage room was completely empty. Nothing in it save a few bare shelves. I stepped into the room, my gun poised for action. My radio hissed again, and several of the shelves rattled violently. I crossed the room quickly, finding that the door on the other side was padlocked shut. I shot the padlock off, telling myself that the door must've closed due to a faulty hinge or something.

The door led to a stairwell, and as I started climbing the light above me exploded and starting hanging wildly from the ceiling. My imagination was getting out of hand if this stuff was scaring me. Regardless, I hustled up the stairs, opening the door in front of me. In the room, a pair of barricaded double doors stood right across from me. As if on cue, Jankowski appeared on that side.

"Hold on a sec." He said, shoving the bookcase aside and opening the door from his side. I quickly went through to join up with him, I was sick of being alone in this place. "You alright man? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Fine. I think I'm getting sick or something." I lied. Jankowski shrugged, and motioned for me to follow him. I did, pistol up. We both approached a door, I took the right and Jankowski took the left.

"Ready?" He asked, his face cold for the job at hand. I nodded. "Go!!"

As he yelled it he kicked open the door and ran through, SMG up and ready, I followed him and --

The world flashed white.

_You were born here, in this place…_

Jankowski disintegrated in front of my eyes into a black ash-like substance. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. My ears were filled with a faint whispering, too low to make out what was being said.

I moved through the world in slow-motion, floating rather than walking. It was like I was being drawn forward.

… _I was there._

I approached a man seated in a chair. His torso covered in blood, matching the large puddle beneath him.

Flash.

"Jin, we need you up here." Jankowski said into his radio, as he checked the body of the man in the chair. She responded that she was already on her way up. The man was a mess. His throat was worn out, and most of his jaw was missing. It looked like he was… Eaten.

"Fettel." I said. Jankowski nodded in agreement.

"Looks like we're too late, boss. Just leftovers." He said, reporting the situation to Betters.

"The transmitter's signal's coming from nearby. Fettel's gotta be around there somewhere." Betters' voice crackled in my ear.

"I'll wait here for Jin. You take a look around. You are the new point man." He said, emphasizing 'are' as if jealous of it.

I nodded, secretly cursing that I have to go off by myself again, and headed up the stairs behind the dead guy. As I headed up the stairs, I noticed the door was halfway open at the top, and as I was staring at my goal, something crossed over that open door. Something that made me stop dead in my tracks.

Fettel.

I held my pistol at the ready, frozen halfway up the stairs. Should I go back and get Jankowski? I decided against it, creeping up the final stairs. Jankowski said it. I am the new point man, it is my job to go in first and deal with the situation.

In reality, it was probably pride.

I threw open the door dramatically, pointing my gun in both directions of the roof.

Empty.

A crow flew off the roof, cawing loudly. To my right was an open door, which I hurried through, holding my pistol at the ready. The empty storage rooms had a strange wind sound echoing through them, and the door directly in front of me in each room was ajar. I followed Fettel's path, sure that I would catch up to him.

The final door led to an open roof. I stepped outside.

"Give up, Fettel! You have nowhere to run!" I yelled, trying to look around the heavy machines that were making a huge racket. I crept forward, glancing around the left air conditioner.

A brown blur appeared in my peripheral vision, and my vision exploded into stars. I felt myself sway backwards and fall on the ground. I lay there for a few seconds, trying to get oriented.

"Nowhere to run? Who said I was going to run…?" Came a very familiar voice. My vision cleared and I was staring up into the sky. It was purple, due to the time of night that it was. But more importantly, a man was crouched over me. His black crew-cut perfectly still in the slight wind, his piercing blue eyes staring into my soul, and his blood stained mouth turned up in a slight grin.

Paxton Fettel.

He was flanked by two lightly armored soldiers, wearing dark visors and combat helmets. They must be Replicas. My head was swimming from the hit. Fettel tossed the 2x4 aside.

"The dead man's name was Charles Habegger. I remember him. But are the memories mine? Or hers?" He mused to no one in particular. "It makes no difference. He deserved to die. They ALL deserve to die…"

My world went black again. I awoke a few minutes later to a buzzing in my ear. It was Betters.

"Come in, over!" He sounded worried. Bless him.

"Yeah, I'm here." I groaned.

"What's going on? I've lost Fettel's signal."

"I got blindsided… Fettel must've ambushed me." I said, not revealing the whole story.

"Right. Well, rendezvous with the rest of the team. We'll discuss what to do afterwards."

"Roger." I said, feeling like a complete failure. I screwed up big on my first mission. I gathered myself, rubbing my temple where Fettel struck me, and grabbed my discarded pistol and heading back the way I came. Another crackle in my ear alerted me to more information.

"Tomcat, this is Den Mother. I hope you aren't busy. We've got a situation down at the harbor."

"What kind of situation?" Came Betters' reply. So Betters' callsign was Tomcat. Interesting.

"We located those soldiers you were looking for. But we're under orders not to engage until you guys reconnoiter."

"Understood."

"I've got two birds en route to your position. You should have a visual shortly." As if on cue, two helicopters roared overhead, before banking and lowering to land in the parking light behind the building.

"We'll be ready." Betters (or is Tomcat?) promised.

I headed down the stairs back down to the rest of the team, but paused outside the door as I heard talking. This however, was definitely not in my head and clearly really happening.

"What do you think of the new point man?" Jankowski asked.

"Well… He's pretty cute." Came Jin's reply. My heart slightly jumped in my chest and I smirked slightly. You're goddamn right I am.

"That's not what I meant." Jankowski chuckled slightly.

"Just say what's on your mind, Jankowski." Jin sounded slightly annoyed.

"I don't know, something about him just feels... off."

"The day I look to you as a judge of character will be a sad day indeed."

"I'm serious. It's something about his eyes. Like he's looking right through you." Jankowski eerily echoed the thought I had about Fettel. Were my eyes really like that?

"Maybe it's because you're one-dimensional."

"Ouch." Jankowski said. I took this time to enter the room, tired of eavesdropping. Jin was investigating the body of Habegger with a pair of surgical gloves on. Jankowski was standing in the corner with his arms crossed. He stepped forward when I entered the room.

"Hey, back already? See anything?"

"Nothing interesting." I lied before looking at Jin. "How about you?"

"Well, this guy was definitely a midnight snack for our friend Fettel."

"Charles Habegger…" I murmured. Jin glanced at me. I shook my head, telling her to forget it.

"You guys about done up there? Our day's just getting started." Betters' voice came in our earpieces. Jin sighed, tossing one of her surgical gloves away.

"You boys run along. I'll be busy here for a while."

...


	3. FEAR Interval 02 : Initiation

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 02**

**Initiation**

SITUATION:

Paxton Fettel has managed to elude F.E.A.R. operatives in Auburn, and his tracking signal was subsequently lost.

Body of unidentified male was discovered at the site.

Hannibal-3 spy satellite has photographed sizable Replica force in vicinity of South River Wasterwater Treatment Plant.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. combat operatives will attach to responding Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (SFOD-D) troops to reconnoiter the area for the purpose of recommending military response. Teams should not engage the enemy unless fired upon.

F.E.A.R. technical officer, Jin Sun-Kwon, is remaining in Auburn to conduct forensic investigation.

---

"This is our stop, people!" One of the Delta Force operatives Jankowski and I were tasked with yelled as our helicopter banked sharply. It performed a rocking maneuver, a tribute to the pilot's skill, and hovered where it was. The rotor was kicking up dirt and trash on the ground beneath us.

"Let's go fuck shit up!" Another operative yelled as we attached our carabineers to the long black ropes hanging vertically outside the whirlybird. I glanced at Jankowski, and saw that he was holding back a laugh. Special Forces my ass.

"Go, go, go!!" Yelled a Delta, and we kicked off the bird, sliding down the ropes to the ground. My boots connected with the pavement hard, and I crouched down, clearing my rope as the helicopters flew away. I grabbed the sub-machine gun that was slung across my back, pulling the bolt back and cocking the weapon. Replicas were around. I couldn't be too careful. My Delta Squad gathered up around me, and one of the men flipped on his radio.

"Den Mother, this is Little Bird. We're on the ground."

"Copy that. Proceed to first objective."

"Roger that, Den Mother." The Delta said, glancing at me. "You're F.E.A.R., right? You're on point."

I nodded, and motioned for my small squad to follow me. Jankowski was taken and dropped on the other side of the warehouse area we were in, and our job was to recon for the Delta team as they inserted into the water treatment plant where the Replicas were spotted.

We moved up to a closed gate, the controls were nowhere in sight. The Deltas just relaxed, and their, presumably, leader looked at me.

"Since you're on point, see if you can get this gate open. " He said, and then added with a chuckle. "I'd send one of my boys, but I think we need a 'specialist' for this one."

The Deltas all laughed and I grumbled under my breath before turning around, hefting my SMG. The large warehouse shutter door was partially opened, and I ducked underneath it, entering a wide storage room for a variety of wooden crates, all marked and labeled. I found the stairwell, and climbed up it, finding myself in the control room for the gate.

"I found the controls, opening the gate now." I said over my radio.

"Good job, head on back." Came the response from the Delta squad leader, as I threw the switch and opened the gate. I watched through the window as the Delta team came through and took up position. I turned around and headed back down the stairs, but when I reached the bottom and entered into the warehouse, my radio crackled. I checked the handset attached to my shoulder for the caller.

UNKNOWN ORIGIN read the bright green letters on my radio. What the hell?

"What the hell is that?!" Came a panicked voice from over my radio. Gunfire was the next sound I heard, as well as screams from a location identified by my radio as DELTA SQUAD.

I ran out of the warehouse, as I continued to hear the noise.

"Over there!!"

"Look out!!!"

More gunfire.

"Little Bird, what is your status, over?" Den Mother was now involved. What the hell happened?

No response.

"Little Bird, come in!"

I turned the corner and swallowed hard, seeing the sight that was now in front of me. My radio erupted into static.

"BZZT – Losing yo- BZZT – signal." Betters came in over the static. "If you can – BZZT – rendezvous with Jankowski. Repeat, if you can hear me – BZZT – with Jankowski!!"

And with that, there was nothing save the soft white noise of static.

I suddenly felt very alone.

I turned my attention to the bodies of the Delta team, or… Rather, what was left of them. A giant pool of dark blood covered the area, but blood was not only there. It was splattered haphazardly on several of the nearby cargo containers. Sitting in the pool of blood were skeletons. Charred, and still lightly smoking, their jaws opened in an eternal scream of pain.

"My God." I whispered, stepping forward. A small cloud hovered over the bodies, and while I originally dismissed this as smoke from whatever happened to the bodies, but I realized that it wasn't. The black smoke clouds had flashed white every once in a while, like lightning.

"What the…?" I said, waving my hand to

Flash.

"What the hell is that?!" The soldiers opened fire, unloading, towards me. I didn't like that. Not. One. Bit. I lifted my head, my black bangs falling away from my eyes, turned a piercing yellow due to the psychic power I was emanating.

"Die." I whispered. The soldiers screamed in agony as their flesh was torn from their bone, liquefying in mid air. Blood splattered freely from their bodies as their skeletons crashed against the ground, their mouths still opened in agony.

They deserve to die. They all deserve to die.

Flash.

disperse the smoke.

My head exploded into agony, and I cried out. I fell to one knee, holding one hand to my temple. My head was throbbing, my vision turning red with every reverberating bump in my head.

That memory… It wasn't mine. Yet, it was so strong and so powerful that it overwhelmed me. I looked up, and the smoke was gone. As soon as I touched that smoke… It triggered. The throbbing in my head was subsiding, so I stood up.

I still had a job to do, and my current mission was to reconnect with Jankowski and his squadron and wait for reinforcements. There was some sort of interference with the radio, cutting all of us off from each other.

I stood up and moved away from the skeletons of my SFOD team, heading toward the nearby warehouse. I heard choking and spluttering coming from the cracked door directly in front of me. I pushed the door open with my SMG, revealing a man sitting in a pool of his own blood. I hurried to him kneeling down by him. He coughed again, blood trickling down over his chin.

"What happened?" I asked. Even from my basic medical training, I could tell the guy was a goner. His blue jumpsuit was soaked in blood from the multitude of gunshot wounds.

"They just started shooting... Help me..." And with that, he died. I grabbed my SMG again, and went down the only hallway available to me. The hallway elbowed left, and from around the corner I heard a single gunshot, which echoed down the hallway. I glanced around the corner and my heart started hammering.

Revealed in the one light of the room, like an eerie spotlight, was a Replica soldier standing over the body of a recently executed worker. Blood was liberally splattered around the room, along with a few other executed workers.

"Command, all civilians have been neutralized." Said the Replica.

"Echo Zero, roger. Hold position and intercept hostile forces." The Replica shut off his radio and began walking away.

I leaned back against the wall, clicking my head against the wall as I began planning my moves.

But the bump of my head reverberated through the weak plaster wall. And the Replica turned around, his dark visor masking his face, SMG trained on the doorway I was hidden behind.

"Shit." I muttered, making sure my SMG was cocked. The Replica took a few steps towards the door, but I swung out into the doorframe, and before the Replica could react I unloaded a 3-round burst into his visor, splintering the glass and killing the soldier. He collapsed with a slight groan, releasing his SMG and letting the gun clatter to the ground.

I moved on autopilot, allowing my military training to take over. I prowled through the dark room, turning left past a row of boxes, and putting another Replica soldier in the center of my red-dot sight, firing a burst at the soldier. Two bullets struck his Kevlar, but one hit him in the unprotected neck. The clone went down with a gurgle, and I crossed the room quickly before putting a .45 bullet in his head.

I left the warehouse quickly, holding my SMG at the ready in case any other Replicas were around. I came across a small puddle of blood in the middle of a hallway. Along the top of the hallway was a metal catwalk.

And blood was dripping from the catwalk.

Movement drew my eye, and an eruption of blue sparks sprang from the catwalk as a body of a worker fell in front of me. I thought I could pick up a man-like shape jump down from the catwalk as well. I stepped over the body, letting my emotions take back seat to my training, and strode through the hallway. I eventually reached a boarded up window, which I smashed in and jumped through, landing outside another warehouse, which the faded sign told me was the Blacksand Imports warehouse. I quickly entered the door, shutting it silently behind me and silently padding down the empty, and bare, hallway.

Replicas. What good did an aerospace technology company need for a battalion of clone soldiers? It just didn't make sense.

"All elements be advised that Echo Zero isn't responding." Came the sound from the Replica radio, coming from a room just out of sight. "Echo Six. Secure the area. We might have intruders."

"Roger, command." The sound of shuffling came from around the corner as well, and from my estimate there was more than one. I brought my SMG up, waiting for the Replicas to come through. As expected they did, all three of them moving into my sights.

It was terrifying actually, seeing those three Replicas move. It was like watching the exact same video at the same time, but each was off by a second or too. They were all mirrors of one another.

Regardless, I opened fire, killing one and wounding another, before the clones could even get their weapons up. I walked towards them, unloading my magazine on the three soldiers. All of them fell, the last one letting out a scream as he died. I ejected the spent magazine from my SMG, inserting another one in and drawing the bolt back.

I crossed the shipping and receiving room with authority, locating the basement stairs and moving down them quickly. Each step came with a clang that reverberated around the tight stairwell. As I reached the bottom, my radio exploded into static, and I saw someone walking ahead of me, but the shadows in the hallway made it impossible to make out.

"Is someone there…?" Came a voice, a whisper that echoed down the cement hallway. I moved through the hallway, gun ready. It could be an ambush. As I moved around the corner, I saw the man again. And it was very recognizable this time.

"Jankowski?" I asked, and he turned towards me, and I recoiled in horror. His skin was pale, white even, and where his eyes were… There was nothing. They were empty, soulless voids, blood trickling out down his face onto his body armor.

"They took my eyes…" Jankowski whispered.

"Hold on man, I'll find you a medic!" I said, walking to him quickly and slinging the SMG across my back. But as I touched Jankowski he dissolved, floating in the air like an ash-like substance.

"Is someone there…?" Repeated Jankowski, his voice coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once. Only then did I take into account my surroundings. The entire room was covered in blood, and, again, more charred skeletons were sitting in the giant puddle on the floor.

My breath came in panicked gasps. What did I just see? Jankowski… What happened to him? Did this possibly have something to do with the memory I saw earlier? What the hell was going on? And those skeletons… I had a sinking suspicion I found Jankowski's SFOD squad…

I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. I couldn't lose it. Not yet, I still had a job to do. I could freak out when I gained communication back with Betters. I was still visibly shaken by my encounter with Jankowski as well as the skeletons, but I had to press on.

Shelving the terrible images I saw, I moved up the stairs on the other end of the room, leaving bloody footprints on the cement steps. The staircase led to a small, empty office, most likely for shipping and receiving. Having nothing else to do, I knocked out a window and jumped into a small hallway. On one end of the hallway was a window, just higher than my head, and on the other end was a door. In between were metal shelves with various objects strewn on them. My radio began emitting static. I walked forward, keeping my eye on the door when a sudden explosion forced me to cover my face.

When I lowered my arm, I saw the door was on fire, and the fire was rapidly expanding down the hallway. And in the epicenter…

A little girl. She couldn't be any older than 8 years old. She was wearing a red dress, and her long black hair was covering her face. She slowly walked towards me, whispering something I couldn't understand.

Was I seeing things now? Whether or not the girl was real, the fire was however, and I knew I was trapped. The room exploded again, and this time, the shockwave from the explosion lifted me up. I grunted, closing my eyes as I was thrown backwards out of the room, smashing through the window behind me. I landed on the concrete with a thud, the impact knocking the breath out of me. The room exploded in a larger blaze, due to the back draft that the broken window created.

The last thought I remembered having was that it was nighttime now, and with that, I blacked out. Blacked out to nightmares of a little girl in a red dress.

...


	4. FEAR Interval 03 : Escalation

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 03a**

**Escalation**

SITUATION:

Hannibal-3 spy satellite is back online. One F.E.A.R. combat operative has been found alive. Remaining operative is still missing, but life signs are stable.

Paxton Fettel's tracking signal has been detected in the area.

SFOD-D reinforcements are en route to assist in primary mission.

MISSION:

Remaining F.E.A.R. combat operative will attempt to locate and neutralize Fettel.

---

"_Where is Alma?" Paxton Fettel asked simply, walking around the man in the chair, his hands tied behind his back._

_  
"I don't know what you're talking about!" The man yelled, fear tainting his voice. Fettel's mouth twitched upwards, like he was fighting back a smile. _

"_Some secrets… Are buried deeper than others. But I know where to dig…" Fettel closed the distance between himself and the man in the chair._

"_No! Wait! You've got the wrong guy!"_

"_Hush now, Mr. Moody. The time for talk is done."_

"_Please!! Noooooo!!!"_

My eyes snapped open, my heart pounding and my breath coming in ragged gasps as if I had just ran a marathon.

"He's alive." Jin Sun-Kwon said, peeling my eyes open and shining a small pen flashlight in both of them.

"Should I call a medevac?" Betters asked over the radio. Jin turned the light off, replacing it in her medical kit.

"He doesn't appear to be injured." She turned and nodded to the Delta behind her, and then glanced at the window. Fire was still spurting out of the broken glass. "Although I don't know how he survived."

"Worry about that later. I'm reading Fettel's transmitter near that position. We've got to take that fucker out. Fast." Betters said, as Jin extended her hand. I grabbed it, and allowed her to help pull me to my feet. My headache was starting up again, and I grabbed my SMG that was thrown out of the room as well.

"Jin, can you hook me up with some aspirin?" I asked. She nodded, handing me the small vial. "I'll just hold onto this." I popped two pills and pocketed the bottle.

"Jin, keep looking for Jankowski. I'm still reading his lifesigns." Betters said over the radio. Jin and the Delta looked at me, the Delta slowly shaking his head.

"You can't send him in alone! That's crazy." She yelled into her microphone.

"He can take care of himself. Now move!" I nodded. As point man, this was my job. Regardless of what had happened to Jankowski, or that little girl, I still had to do my job. I had to stop Fettel, or a lot more people were going to die.

"You better get moving. Be careful in there." Jin said, before heading off in the opposite direction with the Delta in tow.

"You're lucky to be alive." The Delta said in passing, nodding at me. I returned the nod, moving in the opposite direction of my teammate and her Delta escort. Turned two corners, finding the ending of this alleyway. A slat wood fence stood in front of me, and concrete stairs leading down was pushed against the left wall. As I walked towards the stairs, a truck motored by the fence, once again proving that outside this warehouse block the entire world was operating as it should.

I went downstairs, pushing the ajar door open with the butt of my SMG. As soon as I entered the room, my hackles rose, and I sensed something was wrong. Probably due to the dead body propped against the wall. Bullet holes peppered the wall behind the dead worker, I moved through the hallway, not bothering to check the bodies of the three dead workers in this darkened generator room. My radio crackled, causing me to put two fingers to the headset.

"Tomcat, it looks like I'm not gonna be able to send you any reinforcements for a while. My helos just got diverted to Armacham headquarters. Something big is going on." Came the voice of Den Mother, just audible over the hum of the rotors of a helicopter.

"No shit. My people are stuck right in the middle of it." Came Betters' reply. I made my way through the dark and winding corridors, finally arriving at a blue metal door.

"I hear ya. I wish I was calling the shots." I opened the door, seeing several helicopters fly overhead with a thundering reverberation.

"Is it the same bad guys?" Betters asked, and Den Mother paused for a moment.

"Looks that way. I'm a little short on details."

"I guess this ain't a covert op anymore…" Betters said slowly.

"Looks that way, boss." I responded, crossing a catwalk positioned over a large, dirty water tank. The path led to a small office that held nothing of interest other than the controls for the catwalk. I pulled the lever, and the catwalk spun around, creating a walkway to the other side of the tank. I crossed the catwalk, moving to a wall covered in graffiti. A large, closed, warehouse door was on my left and on the right was a large square well-like structure. A lone yellow ladder led down the hole, and since I had nowhere else to go, I took it down.

I reached the bottom of the well, finding myself in a room lit by only a single light bulb. I flicked on the flashlight attached to the bottom of my SMG and moved forward through the room.

My radio softly crackled, and my flashlight flickered. I slapped it and the flickering stopped. I moved forward, down three steps and into a pitch-black hallway. Water softly trickled down the center to a drain on my left, and to my right was a lit room. I started down the hallway when my radio softly crackled again. I felt something brush against the inside of my foot, and looked down to see three rats scurrying by, in a hurry to get away from something. I swung my SMG back up to allow me to see the hallway, creeping forward.

A soft girlish giggle echoed down the hallway.

And something ran in front of my flashlight at the end of the hallway.

My heart started pounding. Whatever that thing was, it was too small to be a Replica soldier. My headache started coming back. I turned the corner, shining my flashlight to the right side of the room.

All I could see was a solid concrete wall. I examined the rest of the room, and my attention was drawn to a drainage niche. While there were two nearly identical ones on the far wall, one was different than the other.

And by different, I mean completely soaked in blood. The red liquid covered every surface of the niche, bubbling down the drain at the edge of where the wall met the floor with a soft gurgle. Several body parts were strewn about the niche, making it impossible to see if it was just one person or several who were torn apart.

I gagged, trying not to vomit. My radio crackled again.

A girlish giggle reached my ears, eerily similar to the one that I had heard not two minutes ago.

A shadow crossed my flashlight, pointed at the wall. I spun around, catching just the glimpse of something. Something that made my heart pound even harder, sending more adrenaline pumping through my veins.

The corner of a red dress. And it was low to the ground.

Like a child was wearing it.

I ran around the corner, into the second niche where the girl ran.

Once again, I found myself staring at a blank concrete wall. I reached into my pocket, pulling out the bottle of aspirin, and dry swallowing the pills. I have to be seeing shit, a side effect from being thrown through a window and my freaking headache most likely. I climbed up the ladder, seeing a helicopter fly over the manhole I was exiting.

I pulled myself out of the manhole, sliding the heavy steel disc over the open hole to prevent someone from coming behind me. In front of me was another door, this one labeled 'Authorized Personnel Only', with a shattered window. Blood covered the edges of the window, and ran down the length of the door before pooling at the bottom of the door. I crossed a small catwalk and knocked the door open with the butt of my SMG. This got the attention of the Replica soldier walking up the stairs.

He spun around, firing at me. I dove backwards, rolling behind the wall. I unloaded a few shots, before ducking back into cover as the concrete corner exploded with a barrage of bullets. I blind fired around the corner, making the Replica run for cover.

Perfect.

I moved around the corner, seamlessly finding my target and firing on him, killing him. Another Replica kicked open a door on top of the catwalk, bringing his assault rifle up. But my adrenaline was pumping so fast that it seemed as if he was moving in slow motion. I had no problem killing the clone before he could even aim at me.

I moved through the room quickly, not even giving time for the ringing in my ears to subside. The other Replicas in the area must've heard the shots. I moved through the hallway, my SMG up and ready as I entered the next room. As I expected, the Replicas were ready for me, standing behind a boiler sunk into the ground.

"Holy shit!" One of the Replicas yelled.

"How's he so fast?!" The other responded. Those were the last words out of either of the soldiers. I stepped over their bodies, ejecting the empty magazine from my SMG and inserting my last one.

I bent over, retrieving one of the assault rifles from the dead Replicas. I searched his vest and found an extra magazine, which I tucked into my own Kevlar vest.

I battled my way through the warehouse, exterminating the Replica forces I came across with no mercy with my new fangled assault rifle. However, on my clone-killing spree I found something completely out of the ordinary. A laptop computer, open with the desktop displayed proudly. I touched my radio.

"Command. I've found a laptop here."

"Roger the point. Plug that drive into the USB port."

"Point copies." I pulled it out; a small jump-drive looking thing that Betters gave me at the beginning. Somehow, it would manage to find important data related to Fettel, the Replicas, and Armacham. I plugged into the USB, finding it under My Computer and activating the drive.

"The data's uploading now." Betters said. "Hmm. This is interesting... I found a wastewater analysis summary address to an Armacham review committee. According to the abstract, there's some major contamination coming from upstream. I can't imagine why Armacham would be interested unless they're responsible… Point, continue searching for Fettel."

"Roger that HQ." I said, pulling the drive out and replacing it in my pocket. The hallway led to a set of double doors. I opened one of the two doors, entering the large open shipping area for one of the warehouses. A squad of Replicas was waiting for me.

"There he is! Fucking kill him!!" One of them roared, and the rest of the group spread out and attacked. I strafed left, unloading my assault rifle in their direction before sliding into cover behind a large dumpster. The Replicas unloaded on the dumpster, which reverberated loudly with every bullet striking it.

"We got two men down!" Came a shout.

"He's too fast!"

"Shut the fuck up and flank him! Covering fire!!" My dumpster rocked again with the gunfire. I couldn't tell if one of the Replicas was yelling or the three remaining soldiers were having a conversation. The bullets pounded my dumpster until they suddenly ceased. I popped out, firing a few shots at the Replica moving towards me, who was caught by surprise. Next, my head snapped to the one who was done reloading, and I killed him as well. Instinctively, I rolled right, avoiding a burst of bullets that would've been fatal had I been there a second ago. I popped up on one knee, taking aim at the remaining Replica, attempting to clear his jammed rifle. He stopped, looking at me.

"What the hell are you?" He dropped dead a second later, transfixed with a bullet between the eyes. I ejected the drum magazine from the assault rifle, taking one off of the body of the dead Replica.

"I should ask you the same thing, buddy."

I moved through the rest of the open area, entering the water treatment facility. I traveled up a set of metal stairs, past a piece of giant green machinery that was humming softly, and across a catwalk. This led to a giant concrete room, lit only by my flashlight. The steel grating over one of the holes was lifted up, and when I shined my flashlight down the hole, the shimmering of water met me. With no other options, I leapt down the hole.

My head exploded in agony, and my vision flashed white. I landed in liquid, but it wasn't water like I expected.

It was blood.

I was in a hospital hallway, waist deep in blood. A bloody gurney sat halfway between me and a pair of filthy doors. From behind those doors, a woman was screaming in agony, and a man was saying something I couldn't understand. The lights in the hallway flickered softly. I began wading towards the doors, my brain throbbing in time with my heartbeat. I approached the doors, and what I could make through the filth was a doctor in a white lab coat. He was standing over a girl lying on an operating table, carrying something away.

The blood in front of me rippled.

A skeleton popped out of the water, wrapping me in its bloodstained, arm bones. It was screaming, a howl of pure terror as its eyeless sockets bored holes deep into my soul. I fell backwards, trying to get away from the terrifying specter.

Back into the water of the pit in the water treatment plant. The skeleton was nowhere to be seen, and I soon realized that the scream of terror was none other than my own.

I quickly pulled myself to my feet, composing myself as my radio crackled.

"Jin. Any word on Jankowski?" Came Betters' voice. Luckily my radio hadn't been transmitting when I let loose my scream of terror.

"No, but I found some human remains. Impossible to ID without labwork." Came Jin's cool voice. I popped two more aspirin.

"That can't be him. His lifesigns are a little unusual, but he's definitely alive. He's got to be around there somewhere."

"I'll keep looking."

"How are you doing point?"

"I've engaged and terminated two squads of Replicas, sir. Continuing my search for Fettel." I said, crouching down and entering a small drain tunnel, the only way out of the room. I crawled through, ending up in a room with another pair of big green machines. On the other edge of the room was a giant room filled with water. The lights at the bottom of the tank causing the room to take on a greenish hue, always moving. As I made my way over to the tank, I heard a whisper.

"She's afraid of you."

I spun right, seeing Jankowski standing in the doorway to my right. His eyeless sockets, reminiscent of the skeletons, staring at me before he disappeared in a cloud of ash. I shook my head.

"I guess I've popped too many aspirin." I muttered, but my skin was prickling from the recent specter. I quickly crossed the catwalk.

Moving through the treatment facility quickly, dealing with any of the Replica soldiers I could find. Fettel was close. Somehow I could just feel it.

As I traveled through the facility, I soon felt a bad feeling start growing in the back of my mind. I entered a room with a pair of giant pipes dominating the left side of the room, and on the wall directly across from me was a pair of double doors.

As I approached the doors, they were blown open, and loud footsteps announced the approach of my next opponent.

A Replica soldier, decked out in some type of giant armor, stood in the ruined doorway. His head snapped towards me, and he raised his weapon.

The heavy soldier stepped forward, firing a pair of shots at me. Two fluorescent tipped, giant nails, for lack of a better term, embedded themselves in the pillar next to my head. I dropped my assault rifle, unloading my entire SMG on the heavy armor.

The bullets pinged off his armor, doing little to no damage from what I could see. I sidestepped right, as the heavy unloaded his nail-gun, the spikes driving into the concrete wall behind me. My SMG clicked empty, and I reached into my vest expecting to find another magazine. There wasn't one, but I suddenly had more pressing issues at hand.

A spike drove through my left shoulder, piercing through the body armor and embedding itself deep in my muscle, pinning me to the wall.

I yelled out, dropping my SMG. I grabbed the spike, trying to pull it out, but it was no use, I was pinned to the wall. The heavy ejected the empty clip of his nail-gun, preparing to put a new one in. I stopped trying to rip the nail out and ripped my AT-14 out of its holster on my hip. I unloaded the magazine, all 15 .45 caliber bullets, into the lightly armored neck portion of the giant soldier.

This was a great success. The bullets tore through the thin armor in the neck, and the damage of all 15 left only a small flap of skin attaching the head to the rest of the body, causing blood to cascade down the armor. The head fell backwards with a squelch, tearing the remnants of the skin off with it. Blood squirted out of the stump of the neck, as the heavy's hand closed in a death spasm, firing the rest of the spikes up into the roof as the body collapsed.

I dropped my pistol, reaching my right hand up and clasping my hand around the base of the nail, taking a deep breath and ripping it out. I screamed in pain, keeping my mouth shut to stifle the noise, turning my roar of pain into a couple of muffled sounds. I dropped the bloody spike, noting calmly that blood was trickling out of my wound and down my body armor. Luckily, it didn't penetrate the bone, making the wound only superficial. I could move my arm with no problems.

It still hurt like hell though.

I retrieved my assault rifle and pistol, and moved to the next room, stepping over the severed head of the heavy soldier and going through the room, entering a small office-like area. The small radio on the desk was giving a news report.

"According to police, an explosion that leveled a dockside warehouse this evening was most likely the result of an industrial accident. No injuries have been reported, but emergency workers are still on the scene."

I switched off the radio. Industrial accident my ass. I threw open the next door, catching the backs of some Replicas running away from me.

"Shit. Looks like these fuckers are pulling out. I'm seeing a substantial mobilization off the satellite." Betters said in my ear. I put two fingers to the headphone portion of my headset.

"What're my new orders command?"

"No change. Continue hunting for Fettel."

"Roger." I moved forward, using the flashlight attached to the bottom of my assault rifle light my way through the empty hallways. They eventually caught a reflection off of something, which I approached.

It was an abandoned Replica weapons cache. A few assault rifles were left in the boxes they were shipped in and propped up against the side…

A shotgun. Hallelujah. It was a VK-12, the newest SPAS clone to come about. It had a 12 shell capacity, a folding stock, and it was the king of close quarters combat.

Just what I needed.

I cocked the shotgun, smirking slightly when I learned that it was fully loaded, and then noticed something else on the box. A frag grenade, that would probably come in handy. I traveled down the small ramp behind the weapons cache and opened the door in front of me. The room was void of anything interesting save a metal grate in the corner so I crossed it and attempted to open the door in front of me. It was blockaded on the other side. No way through. I turned around and spied the grate on the floor.

"Might as well." I muttered, ripping the flashlight off of the bottom of my assault rifle and putting it in my mouth. I bashed the grate open, lowering myself into the small crawl space. Pipes ran along the right side of the small space, and the left was bare concrete. I inched myself forward, crawling on my hands and knees, when the flashlight flickered and died, plunging me into darkness.

"Come on… Come on…" I muttered, slapping the flashlight and trying to turn it back on. Nothing. My radio crackled softly. Suddenly, my flashlight sprung back on. "Finally." I whispered, pointing it down the crawl space.

The little girl in red was there. Her black hair covering her face, but I could feel her eyes burning on me. She was crouched down, like a spider, and she was scuttling towards me at a high speed.

"Jesus fucking Christ!!" I screamed, leveling and unloading my assault rifle at the girl. My heart literally stopped, and I was seized by the icy grip of terror. One of my bullets struck the pipe, causing it to burst open in a cloud of steam. I emptied my entire drum magazine, still holding down the trigger as the gun clicked empty.

But the girl never came through the steam, which slowly subsided, revealing an empty crawl space.

"I'm losing my mind." I whispered. It took me a full fifteen minutes to gain enough courage to crawl forward and around the corner of the crawl space, and even then my heart was pounding out of control. What the FUCK was that thing? I knocked open the vent at the end of the crawl space, pulling myself out and back into a lit corridor. The room was void of anything, save an empty locker, so I continued forward and opened a door in front of me. This led to a sparsely lit catwalk room. I turned my flashlight on again and walked down the catwalk, which ended in a ladder leading down. I looked down the ladder, seeing the bottom about eight feet below. I got on the ladder, turning around and glancing back at the door.

The little girl was staring at me.

"Shit!" I yelled, as my heart jumped and I instinctively let go of the ladder, falling down hard on my ass and hitting my head on the steel hand railing. My head swam and I shook it to clear it. I rubbed where I hit my head, there would be a nasty lump there tomorrow.

"They deserved to die." Came a voice that I knew well, I pointed my shotgun to the left, where the catwalk went. And there he was, slowly walking towards me.

"Fettel!" I yelled. I pulled the trigger on my shotgun, causing it to bark loudly and illuminate the room. The buckshot tore through the cannibal commander, but rather than blood pouring out of his body, he merely dissolved into ash.

"They all deserve to die." His voice echoed around the room. I shook my head, getting to my feet and cocking the shotgun, sending the red shell spiraling to the red catwalk. I moved through the room quickly, not wanting any other scares to pop up. My heart was beating loudly, and I was having trouble catching my breath.

The catwalk room led to a small control room for the water pressure, and luckily on the wall was a first aid kit. I ripped it off and sat down in the desk chair, sliding the radio to the side, which was giving a small commercial on a local car dealership, and opening the med kit. I took off my body armor, noticing how the blood had soaked my all-purpose gear. I took gauze and bandages from the kit and went to work. When the commercial ended, the DJ came on.

"A devastating explosion in the harbor this evening may not have been an accident. KZZA News has learned that evidence of a fierce gun battle has been found by police investigators. Several bodies have been recovered from the scene with bullet and shrapnel wounds. So far, no one is commenting on exactly what happened here or why." So the cat was out of the bag now. I tested my bandages. They'd work for now, until I met up with Jin to get a more permanent solution. I strapped back on my body armor and moved out of the room.

The corridors of the water treatment plant were still empty, devoid of any Replica activity. I climbed a ladder, ending up in another control room. In the small supply closet in the back of the room, blood was splattered all over the room.

"There's something in the water." Came a whisper from everywhere, and nowhere at the same time. I left the room quickly, feeling slightly unnerved. The room led to a plain, straight hallway. I moved through it quickly, but I wasn't even halfway before my radio crackled. Goosebumps quickly covered my skin and my hair stood on end.

The door in front of me slammed closed. And I heard a girly giggle from behind me. I spun around quickly and my vision exploded into white in a splitting headache. I opened my eyes, finding myself not in an industrial hallway like I thought I would be.

_Breath! _

I was in a hospital corridor. This time, however, something was off. The waist deep blood I stood in last time was on the roof, churning slightly. None of it dripped down, nor ran down the sides of the hallway. My head started throbbing again as I walked quickly to the lone door on the other side of the hallway, following the trail of bloody footprints on the ground.

_Come on, make her push!_

I felt like I was floating rather than walking, all of my movements were slow and deliberate, like I was in a dream. I heard a baby crying in the distance. As I reached the door, the window showed fire on the other side but nothing else. I reached out my hand, grabbing the knob, but the door shattered like glass, disintegrating in the air, leaving me staring at a blank tiled wall.

I could've sworn I saw something move in that fire before the door shattered.

A girl giggled behind me, I spun around, and saw her.

She emerged from the blood on the roof, standing on top of it, upside down, like a hellish Jesus. Her hair did not hang down, as physics demanded, but rather stayed down covering her face. She slowly walked towards me, laughing softly before dissolving into ash. A door materialized on the other end of the hallway, marked with a bright EXIT sign. I walked towards it and opened it.

And just like that, I was back in the water treatment plant. My head felt like it was going to split in half, so I popped two more aspirin, silently thanking Jin for the bottle again. Strangely, during that hallucination, I wasn't scared at all. If anything I felt… Content.

And that thought scared me. I moved through the next hallway, toppling over a hastily constructed barricade in front of a door, and opening said door. I entered a dark room, lit only by a single bulb. This room was vaguely familiar…

A man was seated in a chair, slumped over, and then it hit me.

I saw this room before Jin woke me up. That meant the man in the chair...

He slumped backwards as I approached, his familiar face covered in blood. His cheek was missing most of the flesh from it. He reached out his hand towards me, and I grabbed it.

"Hang on Mr. Moody." I said, setting my shotgun down.

"Alma…" He gurgled, panting for breath. "If Fettel finds her…"

"Save your strength." I said, grasping his hand.

"You have to stop them… You're the… Only one who can…" He whispered again, coughing up more blood onto his chin.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused by what he meant.

"Origin…" He whispered, before he shuddered and died, his arm going limp and his hand falling from my grasp. I touched my radio.

"Boss, did you get all that?"

"Yeah, your signal was going crazy for a minute so I tapped in, just in time to hear." Betters said, sounding as confused as I felt. "What the hell's he talking about? Who's Alma and what's Origin?"

"Beats me."

"All right buddy, get moving. Fettel's gotta be close."

The lights shut off in the room suddenly.

"Kill him." Came the order from a Replica soldier, as the room was suddenly lit up by gunfire. I dove behind Moody's body, using the dead Armacham employee as cover. I pulled my assault rifle off of my back, as Moody's body was torn apart by the machine gun fire. Luckily, the chair the corpse was tied to had wheels, so I slid my recently deceased cover to the door on the other side of the room, grabbing my shotgun off of the floor as I did so. As I reached the door, I abandoned the body of Moody and dove through the door, firing my assault rifle as I did.

The magazine clicked empty. Shit. I forgot to reload after that crawlspace scare. I rolled right, tossing the empty assault rifle aside and grabbing my shotgun. A Replica ran around the corner ahead, and I laid down on my right side, pulling the trigger on my shotgun. The spread of bullets tore into the replicas lower leg, causing him to nearly collapse with a howl of pain. I pumped the shotgun quickly and fired again, killing the Replica. I got to my feet, pumping the shotgun again and grabbing the assault rifle from the dead clone.

I turned the corner, seeing a wall dominated by a giant window. Through the window was a pair of Replicas, who fired at me as soon as I rounded the corner. I sprinted forward, sliding under the window as glass rained down on me and bullets whizzed overhead. I reached into my pocket, searching for the grenade. My hand closed around something round, so I tossed it without thinking.

Turns out it was bottle of aspirin.

"Wait!" I said, reaching up for it. An instant barrage of gunfire drove me back down, cursing softly.

"Take cover!" Yelled a Replica, and I popped up. Seeing the Replicas hiding behind a bunch of boxes, as well as my pill bottle open with its contents spilled about. The Replicas realized it wasn't a grenade the same time I took aim at the clone soldiers.

"Oh shit." One of them said, as I fired with deadly accuracy, killing both Replicas with eight shots. I crossed the room stepping on the small white pills as I did so, exiting through a wide doorway. On the ground in front of me was a blood puddle, rippling softly with the blood dripping from the corpse of the worker on the catwalk above. I grabbed the ladder, climbing up swiftly.

"Tomcat, this is Den Mother. I know you guys are hurting, but we could really use your help with this Armacham situation." The SFOD-D commander sounded slightly desperate. "I just lost contact with my recon team and the brass wants me to send in more men, which I'm reluctant to do until I know what we're dealing with in there."

"Sorry, Shepherd." Betters said, breaking radio code by telling me Den Mothers' real name. "My order are to secure this guy Fettel. Getting rid of him will break his telepathic link to the soldiers. Once they no longer have an objective, they should shut down."

"That sure would be nice." Den Mother said as I reached the top of the ladder, stepping over the body of the worker and knocking in the grating covering another pipe path.

"Tell you what. Can you spare a chopper? We're seeing what looks like a full-scale withdrawal. My gut tells me Fettel's on his way to Armacham, so maybe we can help each other out." Betters said, bridging the gap.

"I can do that. Thanks, Rowdy. That helo should be in touch with your point man in a few minutes." Den Mother signed off, and I crawled through the crawl space, dropping down onto a small grating catwalk floating over a large tank of dirty water. At the end was a large ladder that I climbed up stealthily, as there was a Replica on the other side fiddling with something on the ground. I reached the top, quickly heading down some stairs into the room where the Replica soldier was before.

I froze when I saw was on the ground.

A proximity mine.

Seeing no other option, I pulled out my pistol and fired once, blowing the mine up. Now that the danger was clear, I moved through the hallway quickly.

"Shit." Betters said in my ear. I stopped, listening. "I just lost Jankowski's signal."

"Maybe his gear got damaged?" Jin asked, staying slightly optimistic.

"Maybe." Betters didn't sound convinced, and I think attempting to explain the hallucinations I'd been having of the eyeless Jankowski wouldn't go over, so I was silent.

"The fire and rescue guys are here. Once they've got the fire under control, we can check the rubble." Jin said.

"Let them handle it. I need you on standby to head inside Armacham as soon as the site is secure."

"Roger." On the side of the hallway was a window looking out into a large yard, and in the yard was a helicopter.

Fettel was there, giving orders to a Replica soldier. The window was safety glass, so I couldn't fire on him. I watched as Fettel boarded the helicopter, which took off into the night.

I entered a small office, looking around the room. The only thing of note was the open laptop on the desk. I pulled out the driver and plugged it into the open USB port. Data and numbers ran up the screen in a command prompt style window.

"All right, it's uploading. " Betters said, still sounding extremely stressed. As any commander should be, one of his men was still missing. "Remember that wastewater report I mentioned? There's a little more info here. The contamination seems to originate in the Auburn area. That place is practically deserted nowadays. Probably not a coincidence."

I pulled the drive out, putting it back in my pocket, and continued out of the office. In the next hallway, the promised helicopter came into contact.

"Tomcat, this is Dust Seven. I heard somebody needed a ride. Got an HLZ for me yet?"

"I'm showing a decent-sized yard just ahead of my point man's current position. Only problem is there's a sizable Replica force there at the moment. I'll keep you advised."

"Roger."

I kicked open a set of double doors, entering a wide-open yard. And Betters was right about the sizable force. There was at least two squadrons of Replicas here, plus another heavy armor.

"Negative. We need to hold this position." One of the Replicas said to the others, as I kicked open the doors.

"Wait. I heard something." One of them said, and all of the soldiers turned to me.

"It's him!" They all brought up their guns in the same way and opened fire at damn near the same time. I dove into cover, as bullets rocked it and spikes pierced almost through it. I leaned out, firing at one of the Replicas, knocking him down. I quickly crawled to another piece of cover as spikes pounded it again. The vast majority of the soldiers were on a catwalk elevated over the yard. I reached into my pocket, finding this time what I was looking for.

My frag grenade. I pulled the pin and released the safety handle. I counted for three seconds, and hurled the grenade, up onto the balcony.

"Fuck!" Yelled a Replica, as the catwalk exploded, sending the clones and body parts flying everywhere. The rest of the catwalk collapsed, crushing the Replicas hiding beneath.

And just like that, the courtyard was cleared.

"Dust Seven, this is F.E.A.R. point. LZ is clear." I said into my radio.

"Copy, I'm on approach." The SFOD pilot said, as a helicopter roared overhead and banked sharply, lowering slowly to the ground. Looks like my job at the wastewater treatment plant was over.

Next stop, Armacham headquarters.

…

**A/N: What does everyone think so far? Like, dislike? Any reviews would be welcome. And yes, I know I'm skipping and rearranging some parts of the game. I'm doing this purposefully, for a more streamlined story. Anyway, please review!**

**A/N (6/24/09): Came through and edited some typos I noticed. Also combined Intervals 03a and 03b.  
**


	5. FEAR Interval 04 : Infiltration

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 04**

**Infiltration**

SITUATION:

The assault team and F.E.A.R. operative will approach Armacham headquarters by helicopter and attempt to make a rooftop entry. F.E.A.R. technical officer is on standby.

No further information from inside Armacham.

Efforts to establish negotiations with hostile forces have been unsuccessful.

MISSION:

Initial objective will be to get the company network online so that F.E.A.R. coordinator can access the system. F.E.A.R. operative will then proceed to last known location of SFOD-D reconnaissance team.

In addition, F.E.A.R. point man will attempt to determine the status of the missing SFOD-D team and ascertain the nature of the threat in order to recommend military response.

---

I sat in the helicopter, staring at my two new SFOD-D operatives standing across from me, glancing outside the open helicopter doors as we flew over the river towards Armacham HQ. Luckily, Dust Seven had made a stop by Jin and her Delta escort. She patched up my shoulder, and gave me a shoulder-mounted flashlight for future usage. As well as more aspirin. Joy.

"Den Mother, what can you tell us about your recon team?" Betters came in over our radios. I glanced at the name tags displayed proudly on the vests of my new friends. Atwood and MacReady.

"We were monitoring them on the security network when we lost contact. Now the entire system is offline."

"Any news on the bad guys?"

"We know they hit the main building shortly before 5pm. No estimate on enemy strength, but we should assume it's a sizable force."

"Hostages?"

"Undetermined." We flew over the dock on the side of the river, and began flying over small office complexes. A few cars drove by below on the streets, proving that, once again, the world was normal aside from these events that were happening.

"But no demands."

"Not as far as I know."

We began approaching a giant block, fenced in from the outside world. Inside were three identical giant skyscrapers, positioned in a triangular formation.

"Dust Seven on final approach." The pilot said, flipping a few switches on the controls in front of him. "Going dark."

All of the lights in and on the helicopter went out, and the pilot activated his night vision goggles. The helicopter began turning left.

"Man, I live for this shit!" Atwood yelled, cocking his SMG as the helicopter slowly approached the first building.

"Keep your dick in your pants." MacReady said, cocking his own weapon and glancing at me. I smirked slightly. MacReady is the only professional Delta I've encountered so far, and that was the first thing I had heard him say.

Says something about the Deltas I had encountered so far.

The helicopter hovered slightly over the helipad at the edge of the building, and all three of us jumped out, I had my assault rifle up and ready and the Deltas had their SMGs. The door directly in front of us was thrown open by a pair of Replicas, and between the three guns they were dealt with quickly.

"Go, go, go!" I yelled, and the two SFOD-D operatives ran forward and secured the small room, I followed. A dead ATC employee was slumped against the couch, blood splattered behind him and pooling around his body. The desk was torn up, and the shutter was down, closing off this room from the rest of the building. The two Deltas approached the shutter.

"No good, the controls have been blasted." Atwood said, glancing at me. Both the SFOD-D operatives were dressed similarly, urban camouflage pants and jacket, with a black Kevlar vest and black Kevlar helmet. They wore black balaclavas and knee and elbow pads. The only way I could tell who was who was the height difference between the two, MacReady was half a head taller than little Atwood.

"Alright, lets circle around and see if we can find another way in." I said, hefting my assault rifle and making sure my shotgun was still slung across my back before exiting back onto the helipad, my SFOD-D escort followed behind me. I turned right, going quickly down the stairs and onto a maintenance area of the tower. The large cement platform was empty, save the few giant air conditioning units humming slightly. We moved through them silently, opening a door into a small electrical shed. Again, we moved through it cautiously, our rubber-soled boots not making a sound on the concrete. On the other end of the shed was a door, leading back out onto a rooftop.

"Man, this shit is boring!" Atwood said loudly, swinging his SMG up on his shoulder.

"Shut up, Atwood." MacReady growled, continuing to stay alert.

"Fuck off, MacReady." Atwood said, walking ahead of us. "All of those Replicas are too busy searching for whatever it is they came here for to worry about us. There's no one on the roof."

"Then explain those two guards at the heliport." I said, continuing to search the area as we approached another door into a maintenance area. Atwood threw the Authorized Personnel only door open without another thought and walked through. I was cursing the soldier. Any element of surprise we'd have would be gone with this toolbag leading the way.

"They got stuck when the shutter dropped." Atwood shrugged, waving his hand, and leading us through the utility area.

"That idiot is going to get us all killed." MacReady whispered behind me. I nodded, when my radio lit up.

"Still no word on Jankowski. It's like he just vanished." Betters said, and my skin prickled when I thought about the eye-less specter that had appeared to me in the water treatment plant. "The weird thing is that the bodies of the Delta team he was with is all accounted for…"

"What can that mean?" MacReady asked behind me.

"Who gives a shit? Moron died in a corner or something. When they reopen that place, some low level employee is going to find his body rotting in some container or something." Atwood said, kicking open the door to another roof area. We were slowly circling around the building, trying to find a way down. This area, however, had a level above it.

"He was a specially trained F.E.A.R. operative, I don't think a few Replicas could take him out." MacReady said softly. Atwood stopped in the middle of the roof, and turned around to face us. His SMG was still on his shoulder, and he placed one hand on his hips.

"It doesn't matter about the training. Sometimes, you just get unlucky." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. I noticed something on the upper level, and I didn't register what it was until I heard a bolt snap.

"Look out!" I yelled.

Atwood's body was rocked with gunfire, blood spurting out the front of his torso, he gasped, falling face-first down onto the cement, blood blossoming around his prostrate corpse.

"Shit!" I yelled, rolling to cover behind an air conditioner. I saw that MacReady was down as well. I tried to peak my head out, but was put back into cover when the air conditioner was pounded by assault rifle fire. Damn. I had no shot. MacReady stirred, grabbing something off his vest.

A frag grenade.

He pulled the pin and tossed the explosive up to where the Replica ambush squad was. They were blown apart, judging by the leg that was blown off at the knee that landed three feet away from me. I moved quickly to MacReady.

"I'm alright, I'm alright." He said, getting to his feet. "Bastards just grazed me."

We moved to Atwood, pulling the private onto his back. His brown eyes stared blankly into the night sky, deprived of life.

"Dumbass." MacReady whispered sadly, pulling one of the dog tags off of his younger partner. After that we moved on, opening a door and proceeding through into another utility area. As we entered the equipment room, a few more Replicas engaged us, but the training of a Delta Squad operative and myself quickly dispatched them. We crossed the room, and started climbing some stairs.

"What the hell? I'm picking up Jankowski in that general area." Betters said, sounding extremely confused. "How the fuck did he get all the way here?"

My radio crackled softly, Unknown Origin trying to contact me again.

"Military hardware. Always crappin' out, yeah?" MacReady said, fiddling with his shoulder mounted radio.

"Yeah." I said, as we reached the top of the stairs. There was a small gap between the wall and a large machine, and in that gap I saw something that made my blood freeze.

Jankowski walked left to right between the gap.

"You don't even know who you are." Came his whisper in my ear.

"Did you hear that?" I asked MacReady. He stopped fiddling with his radio and looked up at me.

"Hear what?" That worried me. I've got to focus. People are counting on me. Jankowski… Moody… Atwood… Habegger… And all of the other people who have been the victims of Fettel and his army of clones.

"You alright man? You look like you just saw a ghost." MacReady said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine." I lied, walking ahead back onto another roof. This one, however, had a skylight proudly displayed in the center. "Looks like we found out way in."

I shot out the glass with my pistol, causing the fragments to rain down into the corridor below. Without another hesitation I hopped down the hole, followed quickly by MacReady.

The lobby was dark. I activated my shoulder mounted flashlight as MacReady turned on the one on the bottom of his SMG. The off-white walls contrasted deeply with the deep blue carpet and russet doors.

"The ATC network is offline. I need you to find the server hub and reset it so I can get into the system. It should give us a better idea what's going on in there." Said Betters, crackling in on the radio again. "Plus, I can help you guys out more by stealing the feed from the security cameras."

"Roger HQ." I turned off my radio, glancing at MacReady. He nodded, so we proceeded through the dark lobby. The security gate in the corner was jammed, sliding slowly up and down while the control panel sparked. I hopped over the counter, moving into the next room. It was a type of theater; the projector displayed the Armacham logo brightly on the wall behind me. We moved up the stairs and through the double doors, ending up in a large hallway area. Glass blocks made up the walls on the left and right as the hallway became a four-way intersection. A laptop was opened on a conference table, so I walked over to it and plugged in my drive while MacReady checked the other rooms. I tried to ignore the dead ATC security guard that was staining the table red.

"There's a reference to something called Icarus. Says here that it was a bioengineering program that started in 1973. Something about health issues related to microgravity. Loss of muscle mass, bone density, shit like that." Betters said.

"What the hell does it have to do with Fettel?"

"I have no idea." Betters said as MacReady came back, giving the all-clear sign.

"As much as I hate to do this, I think we should split up." He said. "Both of these halls lead places, and we have no idea what we're looking for."

"No." I said simply. "It's too dangerous. We don't even know what's out there."

"Look." He said, gesturing with his hand. "I'm a professional soldier. I know the risks involved, but the sooner we get this server back online, the sooner your commander can help us out. Then there's no problem."

But he didn't know the risks. If somehow that little girl showed up again… But he was right. It would take twice as long for us to find it sticking together.

"Alright. Be careful though, and call me if you get in any trouble."

"No worries." He said, giving me the thumbs up and moving to the right hallway.

"MacReady." I called after him, and he turned and looked at me. "Good luck."

He nodded and moved down the right hallway. I pulled out my drive and went down the left one.

The hallway curved 90 degrees right, so I went right, passing in front of a group of tall windows that revealed an empty conference room.

A body flew through the window, shattering the glass and ending up at my feet. Something hopped out of the room and ran down the hallway. I bent down, checking out the body of the Armacham security guard. His body was slashed up by a knife, and he was clearly dead.

I moved on, following that thing and ending up in a multi-leveled lobby. All of the doors on the lower level were locked or blocked, so I went upstairs. When I was climbing the stairs something happened.

My left arm was sliced open, blood exploding out of the wound.

"What the hell?!" I yelled, grasping my wounded forearm and looking around.

I was alone in the lobby.

I was slashed again, this time across the body armor. It didn't hurt, but it surprised the shit out of me.

I ran up the stairs, looking around as the wall I was just leaning against was slashed up.

Got to focus, there's clearly something there but I can't see it. Blood ran freely down my exposed forearm and over my fingerless gloves, dripping softly on the carpet. My eyes shot around the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

There!

A faint shimmer, like the heat rising off of the black top on a hot summer day.

But the only heat today was what I was packing.

"Die motherfucker!" I yelled, bringing my shotgun up and blasting the thing. It contorted in the air, collapsing as the space exploded in a variety of colors. I was staring at a dead man, dressed in a skin tight stealth outfit. His hands had bloodstained metal claws over the gloves, and night vision goggles covered his eyes.

But he had the symbol of the Replica army on his shoulder. So I instantly regarded this new threat as an enemy.

All the more reason to stop Fettel.

"MacReady, come in." I said into my headset.

"MacReady here."

"Be careful, there are some assassins around with some sort of stealth field. I just killed one but I have a feeling that he's not alone."

"Roger that, I'll be on the lookout. Thanks." I glanced down at my forearm, now realizing the extent of the damage. And pain lanced up my arm as my adrenaline wore off and the pain receptors kicked in.

Damn.

I moved through the cubicle maze, entering a small kitchen area. A radio was on on the counter.

"Police have set up roadblocks all over downtown in response to the incident. No one is being allowed into the area except for emergency personnel. We've been unable to confirm the precise nature of the crisis, although at least one official has suggested that it may involve terrorism. Let's go to Diego Rodriguez live on the scene." A reporter announced, as I turned on the water and ran my forearm under it, coating the sink in crimson.

"Thanks, Phil. We're being told that just before 5:00pm today, gunfire was reported at the downtown headquarters of Armacham Technology Corporation, a major defense contractor. What followed is unclear at this point. U.S. Army helicopters were seen approaching the building, but we've heard nothing since. Police are urging citizens to remain at home and say there is very little danger of the situation spreading outside of the cordoned area. Phil, back to you." Diego's voice had a Spanish accent to it, as it should. I grabbed paper towels and dried off the wound, but blood continued to ooze out. Dammit.

"That was Diego Rodriguez coming to us live from the police blockade downtown. Today's crisis at Armacham comes on the heels of a report that one of its vice presidents was kidnapped at gunpoint this morning on his way to work. Police are refusing to speculate as to whether the events are connected." My eyes shot to the radio as the jingle of the news station played. I hadn't heard that morsel of information, and it's likely that Betters hadn't either.

I climbed on the counter and knocked out a ceiling panel, pulling myself up into the roof. I crawled forward a bit, but the tiles under me gave way and I fell into another cubicle area. The computer on the desk in front of me was turned on and active, so I crawled forward and plugged my drive in.

"Looks like the Icarus program got shut down in favor of something called Perseus, which from what I can tell is funded by the DoD. I'm guessing that's where Fettel and his soldiers came from." Betters said a few minutes later. I unplugged my drive and replaced it in my pocket without saying a word.

A rustling behind me made me turn around, shotgun first. I cocked the powerful gun menacingly, but I realized my target wasn't a threat. He was a few inches shorter than I was but a hundred pounds heavier, easily. His fat jiggled as he recoiled in fear from me, his flower-print shirt covered in orange dust.

"Don't shoot me! My name is Norton Mapes! I'm an engineer!" He whined pathetically. I lowered my gun.

"A civilian? Quick, give him a comlink." Betters said, and I pulled my spare headset out and gave it to him. He put it to his fatty ear.

"Uh, hello?" He said both in front of me and in my ear. "Who are you people?"

"The good guys." I said.

"Are you alright?" Betters asked.

"Sure. I'm just having a hell of a time." Now that the fear of death was lifted from him, Mapes was a smart ass, leaning against the small opening in the wall that connected us.

"You said that you were an engineer? Can you help me get into the network?" Betters asked. Mapes snorted.

"What am I? An I.S. lackey? Tell you what, you disable the local security system and I'll see what I can do about the server." He argued with Betters, plunging his hand into a bag of Cheezy Poos and shoving them into his mouth. I watched in silence.

"I can disable it remotely once I'm logged in." Betters said.

"No. You. Can't. It's on a separate network." Mapes said, condescendingly through a mouthful of cheese chips. He moved forward, opening the door for me that led into his space. "It's back thataway." He jerked his thumb behind him before returning it to his snack.

"Fine." I said, walking behind him with my assault rifle in my hands, blood still dribbling down and leaving a path behind me. "Stay here and stay out of sight."

"Right." He said, waving a hand and sitting on a stack of cardboard boxes in the corner that sagged under his weight. "Run along now."

I didn't want to spend any more time with that fat ass, so I went around the corner ahead of me, ducking under another malfunctioning security gate with sparking control panel. This led me to an office area, where a desk sat proudly. The desk was a mess, however. The computer was locked, but files were strewn haphazardly on it, leaking papers onto the floor below. Many empty soda cans and bags of Cheezy Poos announced that this desk belonged to none other than Norton Mapes. A note was taped to his monitor screen, which I peeled off.

It was a sexual harassment suit, filed by an Alice Wade. I chuckled at this, pocketing the note and moving on.

I heard gunfire.

"MacReady… Shit." I whispered, running down the hallway. When it forked, I heard conversation and stopped, slamming my back against the wall and glancing around the corner. My eyes opened in shock to what I saw. A trio of Replicas stood over MacReady, who was seated on the ground, blood pooling around him and splashed on the wall behind him, which was pockmarked with bullet holes.

"We'll ask you again." The Replicas said to MacReady, who was struggling in pain. "Where is your F.E.A.R. partner?"

So they knew who I was. Interesting. MacReady shifted again, before staring at the Replicas in the eye.

"Go to hell." He said.

"Wrong answer." They lifted their assault rifle and fired a single shot into MacReady's head. I pulled back into cover, cursing silently. "Let's go. The Commander wants him dead before he can interrupt our plans anymore."

"I'm right here, you clone bastards." I said, coming around the corner and firing my shotgun into the pair, throwing them backwards onto the carpet. I moved to the body of my comrade, pulling the dog tag off of Sergeant MacReady, Connor as his tags revealed.

"Sorry, amigo." I said, closing his eyes and walking down the rest of the hallway. I opened the door labeled Security Office and stepped into the room, sparsely decorated save the large computer console on the desk below the window and the gun rack directly in front of me. I grabbed a box of shotgun shells from the gun rack, emptying the box into one of many pockets and switching on the computer, quickly deactivating the security system.

"That should do it." Betters said. I glanced at the security monitors to see the gates rise and underneath them…

"Sir, Mapes is running." I said, seeing his fat ass scurry under a gate and pause to give the camera the finger and waggle his butt at us.

"Where is that idiot going?" Betters roared. "Fuck it, we'll just have to do this the hard way. Find that server and reboot it!"

"Roger that HQ." I said, leaving the security room and backtracking to the newly opened security gate. A trio of Replicas engaged me, but I swiftly dealt with them, grabbing another drum magazine for my assault rifle off of one of their corpses.

"This is Jin." Came the voice of our female forensics member. "We're on the roof, heading inside now."

"Copy. Proceed to rendezvous." Betters said as I reached the server room. I pulled a switch down and pumped it three times, returning it to its place as the server hummed and activated. "Good job. It'll take a minute for the server to get back online."

"Point copies, moving to rendezvous point." I said as more Replicas burst into the room. I pulled my shotgun up and pumped two rounds into each of them, blood and Kevlar exploding out of their backs as the buckshot tore them to pieces. I moved through the newly opened door, noticing something on the ground.

Bloody footprints, leading into a new, unfinished and still under construction portion of the tower. The drywall was blank, and the floor was uncarpeted.

"You're nearing the last known position of the Delta team." Betters said. "Secure the site and wait for Jin."

"Copy that HQ." I said simply. I turned the corner, passing two sawhorses with paint buckets on top of them when I saw him. My radio crackled, Unknown Origin taunting me again.

"Fettel!" I yelled, pointing my gun. He acted like he didn't hear me.

"You've seen her, haven't you?" His voice echoing down the hallway, mocking me. "She is the original."

"Who are you talking about?" I asked, moving forward cautiously, holding my shotgun at the ready.

"I just picked up Fettel's transmitter ahead of you. Be careful." Betters cautioned me.

"You really don't know?" Fettel asked, chuckling. "I was made from her."

I weaved my way through the unfinished labyrinth, my eyes checking every nook and cranny for the elusive clone commander.

"And I was born from her." His voice was whispered in my ear, I could feel his breath on it. I spun around, finding nothing. "We are separate, but we are one."

"… Alma?" I asked, remembering that name from Bill Moody. I continued forward as Fettel's laugh echoed through the construction area. "Is that who you're talking about?"

"So you know her name now… Good!" His voice seemed to be coming from the roof. I turned the corner, finding something completely out of place.

A pair of glass doors, fire burning behind them. My head started to throb as I pushed them open.

Flash.

I was in a hospital lobby, fire licking the walls and the roof of the room. I stepped inside as my head continued to throb, and that dreamlike sensation returned. This time, however, I still retained my weapons.

Something flew at me, shrieking as it did so. A dark figure, manlike in build, but its eyes were bright white. I fired my shotgun at it, dissolving the figure into darkness. I moved into the room, looking around.

"Are you doing this, Fettel?!" I yelled, but the response I got was another one of those creatures rising in front of me. It stabbed forward, catching me in the armor. My armor sizzled like it was struck by acid, and I swung my shotgun at the creature, causing it to dissipate. I glanced down to where I was stabbed and saw a dark burn in my Kevlar, going all the way down to the skin.

A baby began crying as I killed the second ghost, coming from a pair of doors at the top of a small set of stairs. I moved to them, taking the steps two at a time. A little girl began crying, whimpering in fear from behind the door as well. I had to help her, I had to find her. Tell her everything was going to be alright.

Another specter attacked me, but I blew it apart before it could get close. I got to the doors, looking through the window.

A woman crossed in front of my vision, black hair obscuring her naked form as she walked. My head exploded in agony, and my vision turned white.

I found myself back in the construction site. I was covered in a cold sweat, and my breath was coming in roughly as my head pounded in time with my heartbeat.

"She is a prisoner." Fettel continued. "Floating in darkness, like a baby in the womb."

I collapsed, falling forward, landing on my hands and knees, staring at the ground as I tried to catch my breath. My head felt like it was going to split open. Sweat and blood trickled onto the ground.

"Surely you, of all people, have seen her." He continued, mocking me. "A little girl… In a red dress."

My eyes shot wide open and terror gripped me. Alma… Was he lying? The hallucinations… What was going on?

"What do you mean… Surely you?" I asked, still panting.

"Soon I will find her… And I will set her free."

"Shit, I lost him again. Fuck!" Betters cursed as I pulled myself to my feet, wobbling slightly. I pulled out the bottle of aspirin and popped three in my mouth this time, crunching them and swallowing.

Alma… What did she have to do with this?

I walked forward, using the wall as support. The hallucinations… I was seeing more and more as time went on. I glanced down at my body armor and saw the burn from the nightmare, still prominently displayed. Am I losing my mind? Voices from nowhere, hallucinations…

And that damn girl in the red dress. I couldn't figure out what was going on, and my throbbing headache made it worse. I felt so useless, so inferior. Like I was just a pawn in a much bigger scheme. I ended up in an elevator area, and I knew instantly this was where I needed to be.

Blood was splashed around, more than possible for the three skeletons lying amongst the couches and coffee table. Blood coated the floor in a sole-deep puddle, and it was splashed even on the ceiling, running down in streams. The skeletons themselves were charred, smoking slightly, reminiscent of Jankowski or even my own Delta squads.

I heard a giggle, looking up at the upper level.

She stood there, staring at me, black hair still obscuring her face.

"Alma…" I whispered. She giggled again and dissolved into ash. The elevator dinged behind me.

"My God." Jin said, walking into the room. The SFOD-D operative behind her gagged and vomited in the elevator, pulling his balaclava down luckily.

"What do you think, Jin?" Betters asked.

"There was a lot of anger in this room." Jin said simply, walking across the blood towards me.

"No shit." I said, aware that every step she took created ripples in the puddle. I held out my left arm to her, and she pulled out her medical kit, grabbing some stitches.

"You might want to sit down over there." She said, pointing to the only dry tile in the entire area.

"Well that's great." Betters said sarcastically. "Got anything useful to add?"

"There's no bullet holes, nor casings around." She said, stitching me up. "Whatever killed these guys… They never fired a shot."

"Then what killed them?"

"I… I don't know." Jin said softly, wiping the blood away from my arm and gauzing up and bandaging the wound.

"Well figure it out."

"I don't even know where to start." Jin said after turning off her radio, staring at the macabre scene in front of her. "Almost total liquification…"

"What the hell can do this to a human being?" I asked, staring at the skeletons, still lightly smoking.

"I have no idea." Jin said softly, not meeting my eyes. "But I sure as hell don't want to find out."

…


	6. FEAR Interval 05 : Extraction

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 05**

**Extraction**

SITUATION:

Remains of missing SFOD-D team have been found. F.E.A.R. technical officer is on scene conducting forensic analysis.

F.E.A.R. mission coordinator has detected Paxton Fettel's transmitter signal in the area.

Armacham personnel are presently unaccounted for.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. combat operative will attempt to intercept Fettel.

---

"Alright." I said, testing my arm. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. Sure beats bleeding uncontrollably. "I'm going to keep moving."

Jin glanced up from her digital camera, taking pictures of the scene that illuminated the room with each flash.

"Are you sure?" She asked, concern in her voice. I nodded, giving her a small smile. The SFOD-D operative moved to the closed shutter and punched something into the control panel next to it, opening the gate.

I retrieved my weapons, still not completely sure of what was going on.

Alma… What do you have to do with all of this? My previous encounters with her proved that this is no ordinary little girl, so why did Fettel want to free her so bad?

And why was I seeing her? There were so many unanswered questions.

The gate clanged as it reached the top and stopped moving, the SFOD-D operative returned to his position by the elevators and watched over Jin. He nodded at me when I walked past.

"Be careful." Jin said as I passed under the gate. I waved at her, and then leapt down from the balcony to the lobby area below. The area was dark, and I moved through it with little difficulty. I opened a door and found myself in a small reception area, the phone on the desk was hanging off of its hook and giving off a dial tone.

There was a small gap between the wall and the roof, presumably so the receptionist could hear the clamor that was coming from the cubicle area and report it to her boss like the good tattletale she was.

I pulled the desk chair out from under the desk and stood on it, glancing out into the cubicle area. It was still mostly lit, a few lights were out, but the thing most captivating to my attention was the three Replicas standing around in a circle, talking. Like they were real people.

"Hostage is secure. They're questioning him now."

"Roger. Keep him alive until the commander gets here."

"Understood." The three of them continued on their patrol around the cubicles, and I hopped down as quietly as possible, holding my hand between my shotgun and assault rifle slung across my back to stop them from clanging into each other. So they had a hostage, but no demands. It was like we feared, they had no qualms about killing this hostage after their interrogation of him. Just like Moody and Habegger.

I couldn't let that happen.

I snuck around the corner, ducking into the nearest darkened cubicle and peaking above it to see where the Replicas went. They joined two more of their ilk in the conference room at the end of the hall, the blinds closed on the large glass windows looking inside. I snuck from cubicle to cubicle, creeping around like I was some sort of super spy rather than just a recon man.

As I neared the conference room, I heard a series of very muffled, very quiet noises, and then a large bang, which I assumed was one of the Replicas kicking something in there. The muffles subsided for a minute, before returning.

"God." One of Replicas started. "I hope the commander gets here soon."

That was all the pressure I needed, I stood up and unloaded a long stream of bullets into the windows of the conference room, hearing the Replicas panic. I then ran to the door, threw it open and fired at the exposed Replicas taking cover behind the desk, hoping for me to go through the windows. They were all torn up by my assault rifle and slumped to the ground, blood running out of their bodies and soaking into the blue carpet, making a deep purple.

The muffled noises came back in force when the gunfire ended, and I strode across the conference room and tried the knob of the supply closet door. It was locked.

"Stand back." I said, before kicking the door so hard that the frame splintered and the door swung open.

A man was inside, tied to a chair through a combination of barbed wire and duct tape. Duct tape was over his mouth and had a few streaks of blood running down it, his eye was swollen and nearly shut, and his nose was bleeding and was at an angle that looked broken. He had several lacerations across his forehead, each of them bleeding slightly. He wore a black suit, which was torn and dirty, along with a white shirt, which was stained with blood, and a red tie, which was hanging loosely from his neck. But, above all else, something was strapped to his chest. A small monitor, attached to a lot of C4.

A bomb.

I ripped the duct tape off of his mouth, and he spit a mouthful of blood onto the ground as soon as I did so.

"Finally!" He said, out of breath. "Don't untie me. That bomb is attached to the barbed wire, they said if someone touches it… Boom." He made the sound effects for the last word.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"A little bit of pain but not too bad." He said with a lopsided grin, blood trickling out of his split lip. "I'm Bishop, Aldus Bishop. I'm one of the head researchers here at Armacham."

I nodded, checking out the bomb. Bishop was right, this was rigged to the barbed wire. I couldn't fiddle with this, bombs weren't my specialty.

"HQ, this is point." I said into my radio.

"HQ copies, point. What's your status?" Betters voice crackled in my ear.

"I've rescued a hostage, however he's strapped to some C4 that's rigged to blow if I untie him. Requesting assistance."

"Roger, I'll get a hold of Den Mother and radio you back in a few." Came Betters reply, and I looked back at Bishop.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"Hell if I know." He said, shaking his head. "It was just a normal work day. Several of us were working late and those guys just stormed in! They shot a few workers on the floors below and we split up. They caught me trying to get out and took me hostage."

"Do you know why you were taken hostage?"

"Uh, they were asking me questions about Harlan Wade." Bishop said. Harlan Wade? That name seemed so familiar. "Me and his daughter Alice are on the same taskforce."

"What kind of task force?"

"Some study about the Auburn district for the past 25 years. That's all I know, I swear!" He said, like I wasn't going to believe him.

"Point." Betters voice crackled in my ear. "There's a bank of elevators south of your position, that's where the demo man is inserting. Clear the area."

"Roger." I said, turning to Bishop. "Sit tight."

"No problem, man." He said with another lopsided grin.

I walked to the elevators, relating all that I heard back to Betters.

"Study about the Auburn district… Do you think it has to do with that contamination in the water there that we heard about earlier?"

"Could be. He has no idea about Fettel or the Replicas though, Chief. Unless he's just a really good liar." I said as I approached the elevator bank, stepping into the well lit room. 8 elevators lined the walls, all of them closed. Suddenly, something caught my eye in the corner. The control panels for the security gates flashed red.

"Someone's tampering with the security gates!" Betters yelled. "They're trying to box you in!"

I spun around, just as the gate behind me slammed shut. The gate in the other corner slammed shut as well, effectively trapping me. Two of the elevators pinged open, and a heavily armored soldier and a squad of Replica soldiers stepped out, firing at me. I dove behind the receptionist desk as nails pierced through the heavy wood and bullets exploded against it. I pulled my shotgun off my back, popping up and blowing one Replica aside. I ducked down behind the desk again, pumping the shotgun.

I blind fired above the desk, and judging by the scream of a Replica soldier, I killed another one. But I was worried about the heavy, as the spikes piercing through the desk were moving steadily right, towards the opening of the desk. I rolled out of my cover, as bullets flew over me I slid forward, my foot connecting with the heavy's ankle, the large soldier collapsed as his ankle bent in an impossible angle, and the soldier collapsed forward with a scream. But his head connected with my barrel of my shotgun.

I pulled the trigger, disintegrating the head of the heavy as blood and brains splashed down on me. I tossed the heavy aside with ease, something I chalked up to my adrenaline pumping, and snatched his nail gun up at the same time, firing one handed as I pulled the gun around and aimed at the remaining three Replicas. One of the nails pierced through the visor of one soldier, the force of the spike pulling him backwards and slamming his head into the wall, pinning the dead soldier there.

The Replica's hand closed in a death spasm, the recoil bringing his assault rifle up and killing another one of his own soldiers. I fired the nail gun again, catching the soldier in the knee and the hand, pinning him to the wall spread eagle. The soldier screamed in agony as he dropped the assault rifle. I walked forward, grabbing his head and pulling him up to look me in the eyes. His dark visor reflecting my face, framed by my chinstrap, was covered in dirt, grime, and blood. My long black hair was greasy, but my eyes burned with rage.

"Look at me." I muttered dangerously, holding the Replica's head in my hand. I had a feeling he wasn't looking at me. "Look. At. Me." I said again, and this time I think he looked me in the

_Don't say anything._

eyes. I pulled back, from the soldier, breathing hard. That was Fettel's voice in my head… What the hell? And the second I heard it…

I could've sworn my eyes flashed a bright yellow.

I pulled out my pistol and fired a single shot into the soldier's head.

What happened there? It probably was nothing but still…

Too much weird stuff was happening recently. At the beginning, I chalked it up to just isolated incidents and strange happenstance.

But this… This was getting strange.

And worst of all, I had no answers to anything that had happened, making me feel utterly useless.

The elevator pinged behind me, and footsteps alerted me to the presence of the SFOD-D bomb squad. I spun around, still grasping the HV Penetrator in my hand.

"Holy shit. You did this all by yourself?" The masked SFOD-D operative said, looking around from the headless heavy, cascading blood onto the ground, to the Replicas pinned against the wall. I glanced at his partner, an African-American with a crew cut and a neatly trimmed goatee. He wore heavy armor, which had several toolkits and explosives hanging from it. A headset with an attached flashlight was on his head.

"You the demo man?" I asked as he stepped forward and nodded, shaking my hand.

"Master Sergeant Douglas Holiday, SFOD-D squad six leader." He spoke in a gruff, military voice. I nodded and then realized the gate was closed. "Hold up."

He smeared some putty on the wall from a small canister on his belt, and then attached a charge to it.

"I'd take a step back." The SFOD-D operative, Private Passalaqua, said. I did as I was bid, as Holiday detonated the charge, blowing a hole in the wall, which led us back to the cubicles. We stepped through, plaster still flaking onto the ground and we walked back to the conference room.

"You're all by yourself, and you've survived this long?" Passalaqua asked, awestruck. "You're like… The freaking Terminator, man!"

I chuckled, voicing my thanks as I approached the conference room, and Bishop wheeled himself out on the chair. Holiday crouched down, pulling out his small toolkit.

"Damn. I should've called in sick today." The Sergeant grumbled.

"So… You can get this shit off, right?" Bishop asked nervously. Holiday shrugged.

"Whoever rigged this is definitely a pro." He said, investigating the bomb.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" The A.T.C. employee joked.

"Don't worry, they might be a pro…" Holiday said, grabbing wire cutters from his tool kit. "But I'm a master."

The lights shut off altogether, a small alarm began beeping. The yellow emergency lights activated, barely giving us enough light. Holiday, Passalaqua, and I turned on our flashlights.

"What's going on?" I asked Bishop.

"Someone triggered the fire alarm. This shuts down all the elevators." He said as Holiday opened the bomb. "The control system is in a security office back thataway." He gestured with his head back from where I came from.

"I'll take care of it." I said, leaving Holiday and Passalaqua and moved through the darkness of the cubicles. I eventually found another small elevator bank, this one only had two elevators. One was open, revealing just a regular elevator. The other was closed, with a puddle of blood before it. Blood still trickled out of the crack between the doors. I avoided that door like the plague.

I opened the door to the security office, moving quickly to the console on the wall across from the window and deactivating the fire alarm. My radio crackled softly.

"I found you." Whispered a voice in my ear that made my blood freeze. I spun around slowly, seeing something that made me jump, even though I was slightly expecting it.

Alma was standing in the window. Her eyes were not yellow, but brown, watching me through her midnight locks that hung from her head. I fired my Penetrator at the window, which stopped the nail. She curiously reached up and touched the tip of the nail, and then flicked it.

The spike rocketed at me at high speed, and I dove out of the way just barely in time. The spike imbedded itself deep in the wall. I got up and ran out the door turning just in time to see Alma run at me, I tried to raise my weapon but my head exploded in agony. I fell to one knee, struggling to raise my eyes to meet Alma's, which turned into a bright yellow.

"Wh-Why can't I get into your mind?" She asked, confused, her voice dancing in my head. My head throbbed again, threatening to split open. Blood trickled from my ears onto the ground. "What are you…?"

I stared at her eyes, and she looked surprised. She jerked slightly back, like something pushed her.

"WHAT ARE YOU?!" She screamed at me, and my eyes opened wide. She actually yelled this time by using her mouth, no whispering in my mind. She sprinted at me, tears of frustration running down her face before disappearing in a flash of white.

"Even though I can't see into your mind, I know what you're doing." She whispered in my ear. "I know you're trying to kill him. But you won't interfere much more because…"

She had to be talking about Fettel, there was no other explanation.

"I'll kill you." Came her whisper, I shook my head and stood up. Popping a few more aspirin. This was the first time she directly had attacked me, and it was terrifying. Somehow she completely immobilized me, not allowing me to fight back.

Just who was Alma?

I was jarred out of my thoughts by the sound of the metal slamming to the ground.

"Great." Betters said over the radio as I popped two more aspirin. "The elevators are working again, but the security gates all over the place are closing down… Sergeant Holiday, can you get Bishop to the roof for extraction?"

"Don't worry, we'll take real good care of him." Holiday's voice came in over the radio. I glanced down to the ground, and noticed bloody footprints from the puddle of blood outside the elevator to where Alma stood in front of the window.

So she really was here…?

I stepped into the open elevator and traveled up to the roof, walking out into a maintenance room. The small concrete room held nothing of interest, so I opened the metal door to the roof. The cool night air blew softly, tickling my face as I stepped forward. The soft roar of cars on the streets below barely reached the roof of the skyscraper I now stood on. I weaved my way around the various tubes and boxes on the roof, making my way back to the helipad.

I could see it, the helicopter sitting on the helipad, the rapidly spinning rotors adding more breezes to the night. I could see Jin and her SFOD-D escort standing outside the chopper. As I approached the ramp, I saw Holiday, Passalaqua, and Bishop came up the other ramp and moved to the chopper.

When they were about halfway to the chopper, the doors were thrown open behind them, and a group of men in blue t-shirts, blue baseball caps, and Kevlar stormed out and unloaded on the chopper.

What the hell? The SFOD-D operatives returned fire, taking cover, and Bishop collapsed. Jin helped him in the chopper.

"We're taking fire!" Holiday yelled over his radio. "Get us the hell out of here!"

"What's going on?!" Betters asked as the chopper flew away, sparks erupting from the gunfire still hitting the aircraft.

"Bishop's been hit!" Jin yelled. "Get us to the hospital!"

"That was A.T.C. security." Holiday growled.

"Are you sure?" Betters asked as Holiday talked to the other SFOD-D operatives.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure." I was waiting on the other ramp as the A.T.C. security guards turned around. I could now see the company logo on their hats and Kevlar.

"Yeah boss, they're definitely Armacham employees." I said into my own headset.

"Friendly fire?" Betters was trying to find a reason. "Maybe they mistook you for Replicas…"

"Didn't feel very friendly to me. It looked like they were deliberately targeting Bishop."

"What the hell is A.T.C. doing?!" Betters roared. He had a right to feel confused. Why was a security guard company targeting its own employees? "Point man, you are authorized to engage the security if fired upon."

"Roger that HQ." I said, pulling my shotgun around and slinging my Penetrator on my back. I stalked after the A.T.C. security, who had somehow managed to get that gate open where we landed. They were talking as they walked.

"So we dealt with Bishop… Who's next?"

"That Wade chick. I have no idea where she is though." One of them turned around, and I ducked into the nearby closet.

"What, you hear something Frank?"

"Nah. It was nothing. Let's get the fuck out of here, man, this place is giving me the creeps."

I glanced around the closet and noticed it wasn't a closet. It was an elevator shaft, a freight elevator to be exact. With little else to do, I hopped on the elevator and took it down, as I was fiddling with the controls of the elevator, my radio exploded into static. I glanced at the door, which was open now, and Jankowski's eyeless specter leaned around the corner.

"They left her in darkness…" He whispered, as the elevator started traveling downwards. Jankowski evaporated into ash, as I had seen several times before.

"They left her to die." His voice echoed in my ears as the freight elevator moved downwards, into darkness.

And, hopefully, some answers.

…

**A/N : Once again, I'm removing and rearranging parts of the game for a more streamlined story. Once again, people, review away!**

**ShadowLea: Thanks a lot.**

**Catgirl789: Thanks for the words. I always hate the frustration of trying to find a story that you think would be perfect but doesn't exist for some reason. I'm glad I could help you out.**

**Zeromaru Chaos Mode: 5 reviews… Thanks man. Haha that gave me some confidence and good feeling. I'm glad I inspired you, and as I wrote in your review, you, in turn, have inspired my take on Alma. I rewrote part of the chapter just to include that.**


	7. FEAR Interval 06 : Interception

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 06**

**Interception**

SITUATION:

F.E.A.R. operative liberated a hostage, Aldus Bishop, who claimed he was interrogated about Harlan Wade, a senior Armacham researcher. Wade's whereabouts are unknown.

SFOD-D operative Douglas Holiday escorted Bishop to the roof for immediate Evac where he was fired upon by A.T.C. security.

Paxton Fettel's position has remained stationary.

MISSION:

Every effort must be made to reach Fettel before he relocates.

In addition, F.E.A.R. point man is to determine A.T.C. security's goal and, if necessary, eliminate the threat.

---

The freight elevator slammed down with a clang, putting me on the first floor of the Armacham tower. I opened the small gate, stepping into the cool concrete room of the freight elevator. My radio crackled just as I opened the heavy steel door and walked into a warehouse type area.

"I got a read on Fettel's transmitter. He's all the way on the other side of the research area from you. You're going to have to hustle to intercept." Betters said, I confirmed my objective and moved through the warehouse, silently eliminating the two Replicas on guard there. I entered a small janitorial room, which strongly reminded me of the wastewater treatment plant, and strode through it. As soon as I was through the doorway, gunfire exploded the wall behind me, and I dove back into the room.

Damn, so I wasn't as quiet as I thought I was. I pulled my shotgun off of my back, leaning out and blowing one clone backwards. His partner took cover, so I sprinted down the hallway and jumped, roundhouse kicking the soldier before he could react. His visor was shattered inwards, piercing his face with safety glass and killing the soldier, who fell to the ground. His face was completely unrecognizable.

The path in front of me was blocked by an airlock that required a keycard, so I couldn't enter the labs from that way. However, there was a small alcove on my right, and I walked towards it and the door inside. The door had no handle to be seen, but as I approached the door it whooshed open automatically, putting me in some type of laboratory area. All of the equipment was arranged orderly on shelves, and there was no stain or dust anywhere in the area. I guess the Replica's hadn't checked this room yet.

I left the room, checking both ways when I opened the next door. To my left was a dead end, and to the right was a hallway, styled differently than what I had seen in the office tower. This one had tiled floors, white walls with green accents, and was lit by bright fluorescent lights. The path led left, to some stairs, which I strode up confidently. At the top was another elevator bank, and I was guessing I was in the second tower now.

"Who's there?!" Came a nervous voice, as none other than Norton Mapes stood up from behind a simple leather couch, sweat staining the pits of his Hawaiian shirt. He held a potted cactus above his head as if he was going to bash any opposition he met with the small spiny plant. "Oh… It's just you." He said, lowering the plant.

"Mr. Mapes." I said, grinding my teeth and fighting my intuition that told me to shoot the fat ass on the spot. I stepped forward, lowering my shotgun and stepping on spilled Cheezy-Poos and their bags.

"What are YOU doing here?" Betters asked, over the headset that I gave the Armacham employee back in the office complex.

"The elevators are all locked down. Someone…" He said, casting an evil grin towards me. "Has to go override the lockdown in the security area."

"Alright, I'll do it." I sighed. "Are you going to stay put this time."

He raised his chubby hand in the Boy Scouts motto.

"Scouts honor." He said with a stupid grin. I grumbled to myself, turning around and walking down the dark hallway. I passed under a glass archway and entered another hallway. Every so often on the walls were more glass archways, these ones leading into small lab areas. All of them were dark and pristine, so I continued down the hallway, which finally opened into a larger one. The door on the other wall slid open, and six Replicas stormed the area, tossing grenades and firing weapons.

I took cover behind one of the four pillars spanning the entrance, slamming my back against the white plaster as gunfire chipped away at it. I tried to lean out, gunfire pressed me back into cover.

Dammit. I could deal with five when I had Godly amount of luck on my side, but six was near impossible.

Damn.

I tried feinting to the right side, and then popping out the left but my pillar was pelted again, and a bullet grazed my bandaged left forearm. I pulled back into my cover, my bandages coming partly unraveled and blood began trickling down my left forearm.

I was trapped, as the Replicas began closing in in a pincer formation. I glanced around the corner, and looked into,

_Don't waste anymore time. Kill him._

my guess, the eyes of the Replicas. It happened again. Somehow, if I make eye contact with the Replica soldiers…

I can hear Fettel's telepathic orders.

I don't know how, and I don't know why… But somehow I could read what Fettel was ordering the soldiers to do via his psychic link with them. Thoughts ran through my head, dulling my senses but I couldn't stop them.

The feel of cold steel pressed against my head jarred me out of my thoughts. I dropped my shotgun, and raised my hands stepping out of cover to the five Replicas standing with their rifles pointed right at me.

_What are you waiting for? Kill him. _Came Fettel's orders again as I stared one of the Replicas in the eyes. They turned the safeties of their rifles, and I shut my eyes tight.

My mission… I guess it was all in vain. Sorry Betters… Jin… I guess I

_no… don't…_

fucked up.

The Replicas glanced at each other, confused. That whisper…

That was my thought.

_Kill him._ Fettel said again, but that momentary distraction was all I needed. My hand shot down to my thigh, pulling the AT-14 out of its holster and firing into one of the Replicas, who fell backwards. One of the Replicas fired his rifle, but luckily I had jerked my head to the right, just as the Replica behind me fired as well. One of the bullets grazed my left cheek, before both shots killed the two Replicas that fired.

I ran forward, breaking the arm of the Replica soldier and delivering a trio of quick punches, before firing two shots into the collapsed form of the soldier. The last soldier fired, and I leaned backwards at the last second, out of the way of his burst. I fell backwards, firing three shots into the head of the soldier.

And then they were all dead. It happened in a span of less than 20 seconds. My head throbbed, but not as bad as when I encountered Alma. I looked at my hand, squeezing it into a fist as my fingers popped. Wha- What was that… Just now? What came over me…? It was… As if I reacted before the bullets touched me.

But… That's impossible… Right?

With these thoughts still swimming in my head, I ejected the empty magazine from my AT-14 and inserted my last one, holstering it and retrieving the shotgun before leaving the lab area and entering a dark hallway. I activated my shoulder-mounted flashlight and moved through the darkness, finding the security office Mapes was talking about. A laptop was open on the desk next to the security control console. So, I plugged my drive into the laptop before I moved to the security computer.

"Here's some more information on Fettel. He was developed as part of a project called Origin. It says that the first prototype didn't work out. Fettel was the second and there was never a third. They pulled the plug a few years after he was born." Betters reported, as I grabbed the drive from the computer without looking away from the security console.

"What type of parents would allow a kid into a program like that?" I asked as I punched in commands.

"I'm assuming, since Fettel is referred to as a 'prototype', that he was a test tube baby."

"That would explain a lot." I said, as I deactivated the security system. "Like his poor social skills… Questionable diet… Et cetera, et cetera…"

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Betters said. "You're not paid to joke around, you're paid to recon."

"Yes sir." I replied sarcastically. I glanced to my right and saw a phone mounted on the wall, the red light flashing indicating that there was a voicemail. Curiosity got the best of me and I pressed the voicemail button.

"You have… One… New message." The cool female voice started.

"John, it's Genevieve. It seems the Senator's plan failed. His special forces team has been unable to neutralize Fettel. We should assume the worst. Instruct the security force to repel all outsiders. We need time to clean things up." Genevieve… As in Genevieve Aristride? I touched my radio.

"Command. I have a voicemail from Genevieve Aristride here. She's giving commands to A.T.C. security to repel all outside forces, since she thinks we failed."

"… If that's the case, that means that the situation is degrading rapidly. We have to eliminate Fettel, fast. We can worry about Aristride later." Betters said. I didn't respond, grabbed my assault rifle I sat down on the desk and moved through the open security gate. I was back at the stairs, so I headed up them and when I reached the top, I wasn't surprised to see Norton Mapes in the elevator, which was closing rapidly.

"Sayonara, sucker." He said, still clutching the cactus in one arm and giving me the finger with the other as the doors slid shut.

"At least he's predictable." I said, walking forward and picking up the com-link he dropped. I replaced it in one of the pouches on my belt. Next, I broke the lock on the elevator maintenance closet door and stepping inside the concrete room. With Mapes having taken the elevator up, I could get across the gap and climb a ladder up to follow the fat man. So I did just that, climbing several ladders up and prying the elevator doors open into another laboratory area.

The first thing I noticed was that this floor was darker than the previous floor. The next thing I noticed was that there was another locked airlock on my left, so I took the hallway right, which looped around and finally ended with a window in front of me.

Mr. Norton Mapes was standing behind the bulletproof window, messing with a computer. As I approached he turned and looked at me, sighing.

"Oh, great. You again." He said, before holding his finger over a key on the keyboard, a stupid grin on his face. "See this button here? I wonder what this does…"

He pressed the button, and a loud noise got my attention as a turret lowered from the roof, taking aim at me.

"Oopsy." He said, chuckling as I dove back into cover away from the automatic gunfire coming from the turret. "Bye-bye now." He disappeared out of sight as the turret unloaded on the wall that I hid behind. It stopped suddenly, probably assuming that I was dead since it didn't sense any motion. I had no option, so I sprinted under it, as it fired above me, and slid safely around the next corner.

As I left the current hallway, more turrets dropped from the ceiling. A robotic female voice alerted me that unauthorized personnel would be shot on sight. With no other options, I ran left and entered a small alcove. A chain link fence was there, locked with a padlock. I blew the padlock off as machine gun fire ricocheted around me, and I threw the door open, getting inside just as the turret was about to get lucky.

There was a large circuit breaker inside the gate, so I opened the small cover and pulled the power switch down, killing the lights in the hallway, but also the turrets. I was safe, again, for now.

I left the temporary safety of the chain link fence and continued down the hallway, I glanced in one window, and saw Mapes struggling to climb into an air vent. I laughed for a couple minutes, watching his antics before he finally managed to pull himself into the ventilation system.

I hope he gets stuck in there.

The next room I entered was another lab area, with a computer activated. Knowing the drill by now, I plugged my drive into the computer and waited for Betters to tell me about the information.

"There's a little more here about Origin. The reason they shut it down was a 'synchronicity event'. Doesn't say what that means, but I guess there were a few casualties." The F.E.A.R. commander reported, so I removed my drive and pocketed it. The automatic door slid open in front of me with a whoosh, and I arrived in a small office, the windows above the long desk showing a cargo elevator. Many boxes were stacked along the walls, all of them labeled and stamped with the Armacham logo.

Without warning, the cargo elevator started lowering. I strained to see what was on top, but threw myself backwards as the glass before me exploded in a barrage of gunfire. The cargo elevator lowered completely to the ground, revealing to me what my new enemy was.

It was a small robotic walker, just over ten feet tall. It had heavy steel armor, where REV-6 was painted on, a pair of chain guns, and several mounted missiles.

All in all, it was an enemy I did not want to face with the low-grade weaponry I had right now. The walker stepped forward with a hiss of hydraulics and a crash as the metal foot stamped down, splintering the concrete, searching for me. I crawled, out of sight from the window the chain guns had destroyed, forward, out into the hallway. The walker stomped towards the corner, so I dove behind some boxes. The chain guns disintegrated the boxes I was using for cover, so I scurried behind another set.

Two green military boxes were in front of me, I threw lid off the small, square one first and found a cache of fragmentation grenades. Perfect, those would be helpful. I grabbed three and positioned them strategically, and safely, on my person. The REV-6 stepped forward with a few more loud crashes, and I tore the top off the second box.

"What the hell…?" I muttered as I lifted it out of its box.

It looked like a futuristic shotgun. A small LED display screen came off the left hand of the gun near the barrel. I had no idea what it was, so I looked in the box and found a small memo.

"The Type-7 Particle Weapon experimental copy." I read, following the directions to activate the weapon. It started up with a hum, as the LCD screen lit up. It revealed that I had 10 shots. Cool.

I popped out of cover as the REV-6 turned to look at me. I fired a shot, getting hit extremely hard by the recoil. Instead of a bullet, or even a rocket, flying out of the gun, I saw a condensed stream of blue electricity fly at the opponent. My first shot contacted with one of the chain guns, and in a shower of sparks, the gun disintegrated.

"No way…" I whispered, pumping the weapon. It charged up with a whine, getting higher in pitch as the LCD screen alerted me to the progress of charging the weapon. When it was ready, I rolled out again, and took aim at the cockpit of the walker. I fired, and the laser punched a hole straight through the walker, and it collapsed. I pumped the Type-7 again, charging it before I turned it off. I dropped my near empty assault rifle and slung this across my back instead, approaching the walker with my shotgun out.

I glanced in the burned hole, only seeing the charred legs of a skeleton.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I hopped on the cargo elevator and took it up to where the REV-6 came from. That floor was just a basically carbon copied warehouse from below, so I moved through it and entered a laboratory area. Again, there was another computer activated, so I plugged my drive into it.

"This is interesting. When they pulled the plug on Origin, apparently they just locked the doors and threw away the key. They didn't go into a lot of detail, but I guess the place was really dangerous to be in. I wonder if it was some kind of chemical leak or something." Betters summarized.

"What does it have to do with Fettel?" I asked. There was no response, so I continued through the lab, stopping as I could see through a trio of safety glass windows.

He was there, talking to a pair of Replicas. They glanced at me, and he turned as well, staring me in the eye.

"You again." He said, blood covering his face and dribbling down onto his coat. "You're still alive, I commend you."

I fired my shotgun at the glass, and he smiled, showing bloodstained teeth, as the safety glass stopped the bullets.

"You never learn." He said, continuing to smile as I pumped the shotgun in frustration. His smile faded. "They tried to bury their sins, but instead planted the seeds of their doom."

With that, his eyes glowed yellow and he begin dissolving into ash.

"Wait!" I yelled. "What does that have to do with you?! Or Alma?!"

He smiled again, his face being the only part of him still existant, before it, too, dissolved.

"The answers will come in due time, my friend." He said.

_A war is coming. I've seen it in my dreams. Fire sweeping over the Earth. Bodies in the streets. Cities turned to dust… Retaliation._

His voice echoed in my mind, unabashedly infiltrating my thoughts.

_Are you sure you're on the right side? _

I looked around, as his telepathic message held traces of sarcasm.

"Are you?" I replied, thinking as hard as I could. Fettel's only response was a chuckle.

_I have a game for you to play. Alice Wade. If you can find her before I do… I'll answer all of your questions._

I shook my head.

"I'm not

_You should hurry. SHE is not going to be as forgiving as I am._

playing your damn games." The instant his thoughts entered my head, I knew exactly who he was talking about.

Alma.

I took off running, leaving the lab in a hurry as Betters radioed in.

"I have a feeling that Fettel's going after that Wade chick that Bishop mentioned. His transmitter's heading towards the executive building now."

"Then that's where I'm going." I responded, running through the dark hallways at full sprint. I turned a corner, sliding slightly on my rubber-soled boot, and continued running.

Flash.

I was back in that familiar hospital hallway. This time, there was no blood on the floor, nor the ceiling. The gurney looked actually… Clean this time.

I approached the double doors again, looking into the dirty and streaked windows once again, that man was there in the white lab coat, standing triumphantly above a young woman, being restrained by people in scrubs. He was carrying something away.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Screamed the woman, even as the hallucination faded, the scream echoed down the hallway, shaking the vending machines at the end of the hall. I shook my head, and opened the door next to me. This led to a balcony-type area, I leapt down and landed in a small coffee shop patio. The steel furniture was repellent against all types of weather.

I grabbed a chair, and without even bothering to check if the door was open, smashed in one of the windows that went from the floor to the roof of the coffee shop. I entered through the broken glass, stepping inside and looking around. I had entered the executive building.

Now, the game begins.

…

**A/N: **

**Zeromaru Chaos Mode: Yeah, I'm deviating a little bit from the canon and stuff as much as possible, but I'm also trying to make a good story. Aw well, I hope I'm not spoiling too much for people who haven't played the game.**

**Anyway, review away people, it motivates me to write the next chapter quicker!**


	8. FEAR Interval 07 : Redirection

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 07**

**Redirection**

SITUATION:

Paxton Fettel has entered the Executive Building. His most likely target is Harlan Wade or his daughter Alice.

Site is believed to be heavily fortified by Replica soldiers.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. operative will attempt to locate Harlan and Alice Wade and evacuate them from the site for debriefing.

Utmost caution is recommended when entering Executive Building.

---

It turns out I hadn't entered a coffee shop, as I originally believed I did, but a darkened office area set up like a coffee shop. There was nothing to see in the room, the two desks were empty and clean. So, I activated my flashlight and moved silently through the dark office, my shotgun up and ready.

The dark hallway looped around, bare of anything on the walls. A lowered security gate blocked the first of my exits, so I continued around the dark hall before finally ending in a brightly lit lobby area. My radio crackled when I walked by a plain wood door labeled Security Office.

Now part of my brain was screaming do not enter the room, and as I approached the door I felt my hair stand on edge and I felt an evil presence behind the door. The logical part of my brain screamed at me again, but that part of my brain lost as I kicked the door open and entered with my shotgun raised.

Curiosity killed the cat. My logical side of my brain conceded defeat.

The room was empty; there was no abomination of pure terror in here. However, the security monitors were strange. They all showed the exact same image. It was a hallway, pretty plain and boring from what I could see, and the angle was showing that the camera had to have been placed on the roof. The data in the corner of the screen revealed that it was on the 6th floor. But then it happened.

Fettel strode into the frame, completely relaxed and unguarded. His arms were extended as he slowly walked down the hall. I studied the frame for a second, before my radio began crackling again. I took my eyes from the monitor for a second to glance at my radio before bringing my eyes back up to the computer.

Something was rising out of the bottom of the frame.

I squinted, staring at the monitor as it continued rising. It seemed to just be a silhouette of something.

But then two yellow eyes burned into my soul and I jumped back as the camera erupted in static.

Alma…

I left the security office in a hurry, entering a lobby area, Fettel's words of warning burning in my head. Only one of the elevators in the wide-open lobby, with the vast amount of scattered papers on the ground, was working. The control panel next to it was blue, compared to the burning orange colors of the locked down ones.

I pushed the up button with my knuckle, and waited as the elevator lowered from the 5th floor down to the 3rd, where I was. The elevator pinged, and the metallic doors slid open smoothly. I stepped inside, pushing the button for the 6th floor.

The elevator lifted off smoothly, but then my radio crackled.

The elevator suddenly lurched, and the lights began flickering. And then my flashlight also turned off, plunging me in total darkness. Despite my best efforts to keep calm, my heart started thumping madly, and I groped on my shoulder for the light. The only illumination in the dark steel box, now, was the dull glow of the 6th floor button.

Needless to say, it was not enough. My eyes eventually adjusted to the gloom as the elevator continued upwards. I thought I saw something by the control panel, but I dismissed it as my eyes playing tricks on me. I waited patiently for the elevator doors to open, and when they did with a chime. A sliver of light slid into the box, gradually filling it as the doors opened wider. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a red dress, standing near the control panel.

I dove out of the elevator as quick as I could with a terrified yell, as a little girl giggled and unintelligible whispers filled my ears. My heart was a pounding as adrenaline filled my blood stream. I stood, brushing myself off and looking around to make sure nobody was around to hear that scream.

"Betters, it's Jin." Our forensics expert spoke into her radio just as my flashlight turned back on, making me jump again.

"We read you Jin, how's the hospital?" F.E.A.R.'s commander replied.

"We didn't make it… Bishop's dead. He bled out on the helicopter. We couldn't revive him."

I shook my head, and I heard Betters cursing. Damn. Another casualty from Fettel and his clone army. I had to stop this… Eventually someone I would care about would get hurt. I moved through the darkened halls quietly, my HV Penetrator up and ready. I turned a corner, and instantly recognized the hallway I was in. I heard a phone start ringing, and I glanced up at the corner of the hallway.

Sure enough, a camera was hanging there, sparking slightly. So this was the hall where Alice Wade's office was. I sprinted forward, and eventually I reached a door, that was slightly ajar. A slate announced that this office belonged to 'Alice Wade: Senior Researcher'. The electronic ringing of the phone was coming from inside the office, and I kicked the door open.

The office was bare and ransacked. All of the drawers in both the filing cabinets and desk were thrown open and broken, papers and files thrown haphazardly around the room. Her computer monitor was shattered, as if someone put a bullet in it, and the phone stopped ringing.

"Hi, Alice Wade here. I can't make it to the phone right now so leave me a message." Came her voice out of the machine, I paused, waiting to hear the message.

"Alice, it's your father." Harlan Wade came on the line, sounding haggard and terrified. "I hope I'm not too late, but my e-mail must've reached you earlier. I'll try my office. Please, please be there."

The line went dead, and I had a new destination; Harlan Wade's office. I turned to leave the office when the phone starting ringing again. I turned my head to stare at the machine, the caller ID revealing that it was from an outside number. I picked up the phone.

"The game's still going on, my friend." Paxton Fettel's cool voice came through the earpiece. "You're running out of time."

"If you hurt her, Fettel." I said dangerously, glancing at the picture of Alice and her father. Alice was young and blonde, she was very pretty despite her fact of being a senior researcher at a large aerospace technology company. Her father Harlan had a rough face, and a mustache, the steel gray color matching the color of his head. His face… It had some sort of familiar quality to it. "I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb."

Fettel chuckled slightly.

"So defensive, and you haven't even met her…"

"Enough with the games. Just give me my goddamn answers!" I yelled, and Fettel chuckled again.

"Tell you what, I'll give you a head start… Good luck." He said, and the line went dead. I threw the phone across the room, and took one last look at the picture before leaving the office and doubling back to the elevators.

As I approached, one of the cables snapped, leaving the elevator hanging just below the door. On the wall directly across from the doors was a yellow ladder bolted onto the wall. Without thinking about it too much, I leapt across the roof of the elevator and up onto the elevator, just as the second cable snapped and the elevator plunged to the ground with a metallic groan.

As I climbed, another elevator slid downward incredibly fast, the brakes grinding against the steel supports, sparking as it tried to slow the metal box that had now become a deathtrap. I continued to climb up the ladder, going up two stories before I heard a giggle. I spun my head to see Alma standing between the closing doors, smiling slightly.

_Now you're trapped._ She whispered in my head. I had no choice other than to continue climbing. I eventually reached a ledge, pulling myself to the top and shimmying across the ledge into a small maintenance alcove. There was a door in said alcove, which I opened.

The door led to another darkened hallway, and luckily my flashlight had been on since my encounter in that elevator, so I had no trouble navigating the labyrinth. I passed a wall, emblazoned with the Armacham logo and had three TVs in it. All three of the TVs were showing a moving 3D company logo. It's like these people forget who they worked for. Betters radioed in.

"Damn, I hope this chick's alive. And no one's been snacking on her…" He said. "She's our last lead since Bishop kicked the bucket."

I entered into a large stairwell area, where three Replicas were scaling the stairs. I fired with my Penetrator, pinning one of them to the wall. The other two spun and fired on me, and I ducked behind a pillar. Gunfire peppered my cover, and when the Replicas stopped to reload, I made my move. I popped out, jumping up the stairs with outstanding accuracy, I hit one Replica in the face with the butt of my Penetrator, shattering his mask and his nose. He fell backwards with a groan, and I slammed my open palm forward, shattering the ribs of the soldier and sending him flying backwards into the wall. He hit it and collapsed in a heap, his other partner swung his rifle around painfully slow. I dodged around him, and delivered a jumping kick into the soldier. There was a snap as the spine of the Replica snapped and he flew forward, crashing through the window and out into the night air as he spiraled down to the ground.

I didn't have time to think, I had a nagging suspicion that there were more Replicas ahead. I pulled my Type-7 particle weapon off my back and ran up the stairs. I entered a hallway with several large offices on the sides. One of the computers was activated in the office, so I stepped inside and quickly plugged in my drive. Hoping as hard as I could that the files would transfer quickly.

"So the whole point of this task force with Wade and Bishop has to do with bad shit that started happening after ATC opened up the Origin facility. Judging by this report, the epicenter is in the Auburn district. That must be where the facility is."

"That explains the groundwater contamination there." I said. One mystery solved, but we had so many to go that I lost count. I pulled the drive out and returned to the dark hallway. The left wall eventually became a cubicle, inside which a phone started ringing. I turned the corner of the hallway, facing the entrance of the cubicle. My radio exploded in static at the same time I saw something inside the cubicle.

Alma spider crawled out towards me, leaping at me and throwing me aside with her psychic power, slamming me against the wall. My head was splitting apart, probably from slamming it against the wall. She got to her feet as I collapsed to the ground, coughing slightly.

_I have to kill you myself, I guess. _She telepathically communicated with me, opening her palm as her eyes began glowing gold. "Die." She whispered.

I kicked off the wall, sliding on my side before rolling to my feet, taking aim with my Type-7. She looked taken aback, turning to look at me. I fired the laser at her, causing her to disappear in

_It's not over._

a white light. I spun on my heel and ran out the door. The hallway opened into a wide lobby, and I glanced around the corner. There was a mass amount of Replicas inside, too many to deal with. I thought about throwing a grenade, but got another idea instead. I opened the door labeled Security Office, and walked inside going first to the computer console. I typed a few commands into the computer and smirked slightly, turning around and watching out the bulletproof windows.

A set of turrets dropped down from the roof and unloaded on the Replicas in the lobby, quickly dealing with all of the soldiers. I deactivated the turrets and walked through the bloody lobby and walked up the stairs.

Crisis averted…

… Booyah.

I paused on the stairs to slightly adjust my bandages on my forearm, since they were coming loose again, and then I glanced down at my Kevlar vest.

The burn was still there on my lower stomach from that hallucination, skin showing through the small hole. It was confusing, and scaring me. A hallucination was just an image in the mind, it shouldn't have any effect on my physical being… I shook those thoughts loose from my head and moved on, reaching the top of the stairs. I pressed my back to the cool plaster of the wall and peeked around the corner.

A heavy armor and two regular Replicas were on guard there, standing in front of a pair of intricate wood doors with so many windows they were more like glass doors. They had overturned a desk and were using it as cover. I checked my Type-7. 7 shots left in this weapon. I grabbed one of the three fragmentation grenades off of my vest, and pulled the pin. I would have to time this perfectly.

I lobbed the grenade around the corner, hearing the Replica soldiers panic, I popped out, firing once with my Type-7 at the heavy armor. The laser traveled right through the large plated armor and passed through, disintegrating the armor and revealing a blackened skeleton underneath. The other two Replicas hesitated.

Perfect.

The grenade exploded, blowing the right arm off of one of the clones, while shrapnel from a combination of the plaster wall, desk, and floor killed the other. All of which were now disintegrated. I stepped forward, over the still twitching body of the armless Replica, blood pouring out of his arm stump, and opened the doors.

It was quite an impressive office, three large windows dominated the left wall, revealing an impressive view of the bay and beyond. Bookshelves with numerous leather bound books and reports covered the entire wall directly in front of me, and to my right was an impressive, large desk with a state of the art computer system and several files scattered around.

Alice Wade was on her knees, her hands duct taped behind her back and a strip of duct tape covering her mouth. Her blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a white shirt and black dress pants. Despite the fact that she had some blood on her shirt, there appeared to be no injuries on her person.

I walked to her quickly, setting my Type-7 down and pulling the duct tape off her swiftly. She squeaked with pain before looking at me.

"Thank God." She said, smiling. "I had almost given up hope on being rescued."

"I'm just glad you're okay. I'm with F.E.A.R., I'm here to get you out of here Miss Wade." I said, ripping the duct tape holding her hands together. She rubbed her wrists as she stood up. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the comlink that Mapes had dropped, giving it to her. She plugged it in her ear.

"Hello?" She said into the mic.

"Ms. Wade, we're going to get you out of there, but you're going to have to move quickly. There's no time to explain." Betters said, while I moved to Wade's desk and ransacked it, looking for clues.

"I need to get to my dad." She said, while I found what I was looking for in the second drawer. A folder labeled "Project: Origin". I opened it, but was dismayed to find that all of the pages had been ripped out and taken.

Damn.

"Where is he?" Betters asked from his safe position at F.E.A.R. headquarters.

"Some kind of classified facility. I've never heard of it. There isn't even a street address. Just UTM coordinates. The entrances are all hidden, but I have pass codes." She glanced at me and shrugged. I turned on the computer and was already searching for the files with a DOS prompt before Betters even asked me to.

"Got 'em, Chief." I said, plugging in my drive. "Uploading them now."

"Information received, point. Wait. I've found some more information on Origin. The prototypes were created from a "genetic reference". I think that's just a euphemism for somebody's DNA. There's no indication of who the lucky son of a bitch was, but I'm guessing Harlan Wade, since I guess he started the program."

"Harlan Wade was in charge of this program?" I said, glad that this conversation was only on Betters and my private channel.

"Wait. Well, I guess Fettel wasn't made from Harlan's DNA. There's an ancient here email form Wade about the "subject" being in an induced coma. No wonder those ATC security goons didn't want this getting out. They aren't just worried about some ethically questionable bioengineering experiments. I think they're covering up some pretty nasty shit."

"Any info on who this subject is?" I asked.

"Nothing. Alright, point, your goal is to move to the roof to meet up with Dust Seven for extraction." Betters said. But before I could confirm my objective, Alice chimed in.

"The roof…? Like…A helicopter?" She asked, looking slightly uneasy. "Can't we just drive? My car's downstairs in the parking garage."

"Scared of flying, Miss Wade?" Betters asked, no humor in his voice.

"Kinda."

"Trust me here, you'll be a lot safer in the air." Betters said matter of factly. Alice shrugged and I motioned for her to follow me. I paused at the doorway, and pulled my AT-14 out of its holster, spinning it on my finger before giving it to her.

"You know how to use one of these?"

"Uh. This is the end that goes bang, right?" She asked, pointing at the barrel. I nodded, and turned the safety off.

"Just don't kill me by mistake." I said and heard her snort with laughter.

"Right. Well, let's go get my dad."

"Negative, Miss Wade. You're going to a safehouse until this is all over." Betters added in.

"What?! I'm not going anywhere until I know he's okay!" She argued. I sighed.

"Listen, your father will be joining you shortly as soon as we pick him up. Trust us on this." Betters said. Alice didn't respond as we strode through the lobby where the turrets killed all of the Replicas. I stepped over the bodies riddled with machine gun bullets and heard Alice make a disgusted sound behind me.

"I think I'm going to throw up." She said, darting into the women's bathroom. I paused, glancing at the men's door, and was hit by a sudden call of nature. I hadn't used the facilities since this operation began, well over six hours ago now.

I darted inside and relieved myself, washing my hands and staring at myself in the mirror.

I looked like shit. The bullet that grazed my cheek had bled, but that bled was now crusted on the side of my face. Dark rings outlined my eyes, which looked tired and bloodshot. My hair was greasy, from a combination of blood and sweat. Dirt coated my face, only broken by the lines of sweat that ran down my face. My lips were cracked and dry. My chinstrap had flakes of grime and blood in it.

All in all, I pretty much looked how I felt. Beat up and without hope. I pulled my canteen of my belt and took a long pull of water, refilling it in the sink. After that, I returned to the hall, waiting for Alice to come back out. She did a minute or so later, I offered my canteen to her.

"Thanks." She said, taking a pull and spitting on the ground before taking a drink.

"Ready?" I asked, capping the canteen and replacing it on my belt. She nodded, and we continued back, past the cubicle where Alma ambushed me. I eyed the dark square carefully, not wanting any more surprises.

We made it back to the elevator shortly afterwards; the metal box was lit again and sitting open waiting for us. I stepped inside, clearing the small box before letting Alice come in.

"You don't fuck around, do you?" She asked, as she pressed the button for the roof. I let out a short bark of a laugh.

"It's why I'm still alive." I said, glancing down to check my Penetrator.

"Uh. Why are all of the buttons lighting up?" She asked, and I lifted my head to look at the control panel. The 12th floor button had been illuminated, and elevator chimed as we reached that floor.

"Move!" I yelled, diving at her and pushing her against the left wall, covering her with my body. She screamed as gunfire peppered the inside of the elevator, tearing apart the back wall.

"Check it." One of the Replicas said, while I smiled slightly sheepishly at the position Alice and I were in, with me pressed up against her and pinning her against the wall. Her eyes were wide with terror, and I shushed her from screaming again. The Replica approached, and I grabbed his rifle, pulling him into the elevator. I karate chopped his neck, snapping it and grabbing the assault rifle.

"Stay here. I'll be right back." I said, stepping outside the elevator and unloading my assault rifle towards the several Replica soldiers that were hiding behind various chairs and couches. I dropped the empty assault rifle and stepped back inside the door. Alice slammed the close door button and it eventually slid closed.

"Sorry." I said simply, shrugging, as the elevator continued upwards. Alice said nothing, simply staring at the floor and holding my pistol loosely in her hand. The elevator began slowing again at the 10th floor.

"Here we go again…" She muttered, leaning back against the wall and staying out of sight. I simply lobbed a grenade out this time and she rapidly pressed the door close button. Several screams reached my satisfied ears as the elevator travelled upwards again.

It stopped again on the 12th floor, and I left the comfort of the elevator this time, firing my shotgun at the Replicas that were hiding behind the desks in the lobby. I slid into cover in front of the first one. As the clone popped up to see if I was killed, I blind fired into him and disintegrated the upper torso of the Replica. I then vaulted the desk and took cover again as gunfire tore up the desktop. I set my shotgun on the ground and pulled my Penetrator around the front. I leaned out of my cover and fired a pair of nails into the soldier, pinning him to the drywall. I retreated back to the elevator.

"Do you have to kill everybody?!" Alice Wade shouted at me as the doors closed and the elevator took off. I glared at her. You're goddamn right I have to kill everyone; otherwise I'd end up being the one that is lying on the floor in a puddle of my own fluids. Alice sighed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I've just never… I'm not used to being shot at like you, ya' know?" She grinned sheepishly, still holding my pistol in her hand.

"It's not something you ever get used to." I said simply as the elevator shuddered and the lights went out. Alice screamed, and my heart lurched. Was it Alma? I activated my flashlight, revealing Alice crouched on the floor.

"What happened?!" She asked, breathlessly. I pried the doors open, revealing that we were on the 13th floor. I smiled at her.

"I'll be right back." I said simply, walking out of the box. She nodded slightly, still looking terrified. I left the elevator, walking into the darkened hallway. At a t-junction the security gate was down, blocking off my right path and forcing me to go left. There was a door there, a portal leading to the security room for this floor. I activated the security gate controls, hoping to find another path to the roof. My radio exploded into static, forcing me to unplug it from my ear. I glanced up, looking at the elevator through the window.

Alice Wade was still sitting on the floor, but someone else was in that elevator now too. Someone I was all too familiar with now.

Someone with long black hair and a small red dress.

"No!" I yelled, running out of the office as the elevator shut. The lights turned back on, and I slammed into the elevator. I pressed the call button quickly, however the elevator was revealed to have been shut down.

"Shit…" I muttered, running back to the newly opened security gate. I took the stairs behind the gate three at a time, ending up in another elevator area. I called the elevator, pressing the button rapidly as I swore with every passing second that it didn't come.

Finally it arrived, and I stepped inside, pressing the roof button. The elevator took off smoothly, and within seconds I was on the roof. I stepped out, into this small office area. Alice was waiting on the other side of a pair of dirty windows.

"There you are!" She exclaimed, smiling suddenly. "I don't know what happened, all of a sudden the power went out and you were gone and I was here on the roof."

"Are you okay?" I asked her, returning my dangling headset to its real position in my ear.

"Point, you should be able to see the evac chopper now." Betters said, and I looked past Alice to see the helicopter coming in hot.

However, something happened.

A set of RPGs flew out from below the roof, impacting the chopper and blowing it out of the sky.

"Holy shit!" I yelled and Alice screamed.

"Forget this, I'm getting out of here!" She yelled, getting back in her elevator.

"Miss Wade, wait!" Betters said in my ear.

"This is crazy, I'm not staying here! My dad's in danger!!"

"She's heading for the garage, you've got to cut her off before she gets herself killed!" Betters commanded, I responded and stepped back inside my elevator, heading for the garage floor. The elevator moved down at a leisurely pace, and I tapped my foot impatiently.

"I'm sorry for the trouble, but I just made it to my car." She said, semi-apologetic.

"Miss Wade, wait!" I yelled into my mic.

"I'm sorry. I can't… I have to go."

"Ms. Wade!" I yelled again, just as my elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened. I stepped outside the box to see Alice in her black BMW roar past me and up and out of the parking garage. I ran after it, but stopped as a helicopter banked and lowered slowly to the ground.

It lowered to the ground, and Jin, Holiday, and Passalaqua leapt out of the chopper. I shouldered my HV Penetrator, walking up to my team.

"This way!" Holiday yelled over the roar of the blades, and I jumped in the 'copter with them all.

"I fucking lost her." I growled, as Jin grabbed my forearm and retied my bandages. "I had her in my custody and I fucking lost her."

"It's alright." Master Sergeant Holiday said. "Your boss gave us the coordinates to that lab that Harlan Wade is in. It's in the downtown Auburn district, our ride should reach it before she does."

"It's not alright." I growled again as Jin cleaned the small cut on my cheek. "I blew it."

"Either way." Jin said softly, looking into my eyes. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"You two can make out later." Betters added into our conversation, Jin lowered her eyes and blushed slightly. "Just get to that damn facility."

"Yes sir." I responded, glancing out into the night sky.

Little did I know that this helicopter was heading slowly towards my destiny.

…

**A/N – Interval 04 is still my longest chapter thus far with over 5,000 words. This is in second with just under 5,000. **

**ANYWAY I've decided that Project Origin will be told from a THIRD PERSON perspective, while all of the Point Man's exploits will be told from a FIRST PERSON perspective. This is because I feel that that's how the narratives work in the two games. **

**Oh, another thing. I just realized that Project Origin's Intervals are INCREDIBLY long, since there are 7 Intervals and 14 Missions, so I'm not sure how I'll be doing that. Suggestions would be nice. Project Origin will begin shortly, since the first Interval takes place at the same time as F.E.A.R.'s last Interval.  
**

**Anyway, as much as I love Zeromaru Chaos Mode's reviews, I would really REALLY enjoy some other people who have read my story to leave some hatemail. It makes me feel good about myself. **

**So, REVIEW AWAY MY FRIENDS.**


	9. FEAR Interval 08 : Desolation

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 08**

**Desolation**

SITUATION:

Alice Wade is believed to be en route to Auburn district in search of her father.

F.E.A.R. point man and technical officer, accompanied by SFOD-D operatives Master Sergeant Holiday and Private Passalaqua, are proceeding to Auburn by helicopter.

Hannibal-3 satellite recon shows substantial Replica forces in vicinity of Armacham facility. Paxton Fettel's transmitter signal has also been detected in the area.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. point man will first attempt to secure Alice Wade. When she's in protective custody, point man will rendezvous with team inside the classified Armacham facility to assist in locating Harlan Wade.

Secondary objective remains the elimination of Paxton Fettel.

Third objective is to gather intelligence on Project Origin as well as the nature of the Armacham facility.

---

I slapped the bolt closed on a new Sumak RPL Submachine Gun, sliding several extra magazines into pouches on my new Kevlar vest, emblazoned with F.E.A.R. on the back. I let the SMG dangle in front of me, while my VK-12 combat shotgun was still slung across my back along with the Type-7 particle weapon. Next, I took the AT-14 pistol offered to me by Jin, pulling the slide back to make sure a bullet was chambered, and then holstered it on my thigh.

"The UTM coordinates from Wade's laptop are right smack in the middle of the Rammelmeier industrial compound in Auburn. Place has been shut down for years and subsequently abandoned." Betters informed us as the helicopter flew over the various warehouses that made up the downtown Auburn district. "Unfortunately, Hannibal-3 is picking up significant activity in the area, which can only be explained as Replica soldiers. Luckily for you there will be no civilian interference."

"The Rammelmeier compound… Why there?" Jin asked, checking her SMG as well. Holiday and Passalaqua were in silence, listening to our briefing as well.

"Well, I did a little digging. Turns out Armacham bought the site from the government back in the '50s. Get this. There used to be some kind of underground military complex in that area. I don't think Armacham was interested in what was on the property. They wanted what was under it. And I'm guessing it has something to do with Origin." Betters said. That man had done his job incredibly well, but I knew he still wanted to be in our shoes and go in with us.

"Dust-Two on final approach." Our helicopter pilot alerted us. I nodded, running over my objective in my head.

I couldn't even start thinking about my first objective before the helicopter rocked violently. Holiday grunted and Jin was thrown towards me. I wrapped her in my arms instinctively, saving her from smashing her head against the wall.

"We're hit!" Our pilot yelled, as smoke started to fill our cabin. "Hold on to something! This is gonna be a little rough!"

Jin wrapped her arms around me tightly and I glanced at Holiday and Passalaqua, who were bracing themselves. I glanced outside the window, seeing an abandoned hotel approaching way too fast. We smashed into the side of the building and I felt myself jettisoned up and was torn away from Jin's arms. I smashed my head against the metal roof of the helicopter. Stars exploded in front of my eyes and my world went dark.

* * *

The first thing I remember thinking was that hell was very, very gray. Flames flickered somewhere in the room, making shadows dance across the roof. I was lying on something relatively soft, which surprised me. Someone was running their fingers through my hair as well, massaging my head.

"He's coming to." Jin said softly. I rolled my head back, learning that my head was in Jin's lap. She was leaning against a pillar, her face bruised and cut. But her eyes were sparkling and she was smiling slightly.

"Good morning." I said groggily, returning her smile.

"He looks okay, but the Pilot's dead and Jin's banged up pretty bad." Holiday spoke into his headset. I glanced to see Passalaqua, tying a makeshift tourniquet above his knee. Below which was mangled badly, bleeding profusely and bent in a strange angle.

"How about you?" Betters asked. Holiday snorted.

"I'm alright. But it'll be a while before Dennis ice skates again." He said, looking at his lower ranking soldier, who gave a weary thumbs-up. His helmet was off, but he continued to wear his black balaclava.

I got to my feet, glad to see that all of my weapons were still on my person and not removed while I was unconscious.

"All right. In that case, I want you to stay with Jin and wait for the medevac."

"What?!" Holiday roared, getting to his feet as well. "You're sending him in alone?! These guys aren't fucking around!"

"We have no choice. Fettel is nearby, and Alice is still out there on her own. By the time backup reaches you, she could be dead. Or worse, captured. I can't risk leaving Jin and Private Passalaqua there alone either." Betters said, ending the discussion. I flashed Holiday a thumbs-up.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be okay." I said, and he eventually nodded, albeit reluctantly, sitting back down next to Jin.

"Alright. We're still a couple klicks away from the Rammelmeier compound, so you're going to have to get there on foot." Holiday said. I nodded, leaving through the open doorway. I overheard Jin and Holiday begin talking.

"I hear he's a bad mother fucker. I hope it's true." Holiday said.

"He's definitely something different." Jin murmured. I paused to listen to their conversation.

"He looks like… Well, you know."

"It's not an exact match, but I see what you're referring to."

"Does that frighten you?"

"No. I trust him."

"That was a quick answer."

I left after that. I had no idea who they were referring to, maybe a dead comrade or something.

But why would that scare Jin? Chalk up another tally in the mysteries column.

The first thing I noticed while wandering through the halls about this hotel was that all of the walls in this rundown building were exactly the same, wallpaper flaking off and revealing the pitted and damaged drywall behind it. Graffiti marked the walls every so often. The carpet was all torn up, leaving only strands and wood planks as the floor.

The first intersection I reached had a huge amount of trash and junk blockading the doorway on my right, so I followed the hallway left.

"Be careful." Betters spoke in my ear. "Hannibal-3 is showing a significant increase in Replica activity around you. They might come hunting for you to make sure there were no survivors."

"Right." I said, turning the safety off of my SMG and continuing through the rundown hallways. I ended up in a room that looked like it was bombed out; the walls were missing huge chunks, revealing the hallway behind it. I climbed through stealthily, continuing to move through the ruined building.

"I'll bet you anything the ground water contamination in Auburn is related to that secret Armacham facility, and more specifically, to Origin. That's got to be why they sent somebody to that water treatment plant. They're worried it'll get traced back to them." Betters spoke again, but I ignored him this time, allowing him to think aloud.

I walked under a pair of intricate arches and up a small set of stairs, and then I heard a familiar sounding voice. A pair of Replicas moved through the doorway ahead of me, bitching about their assignment. I fired at one, killing him. The second soldier spun around but I dealt with him as well.

But then an old friend made a sudden appearance.

A heavy armor came through the doorway, firing at me. Luckily, I had already shifted to another set of cover. I pulled my Type-7 off my back as spikes slammed into the wall I was hiding behind. I pumped the gun, waiting for it to charge up. The progress bar revealed that it was only fifty percent complete.

Shit.

I rolled aside as spikes punctured my cover, crawling out of sight from the heavy armored soldier, as he also walked around, trying to find me. I glanced at the futuristic weapon again. Eighty percent.

A spike whizzed above my head, imbedding itself in the drywall, sending cracks spreading out of the wall. The end of the nail illuminating the wall a dull green color, and I rolled to my feet running around the corner, the spikes striking the wall a mere inch behind me. I took cover behind the doorway, just as the Type-7 beeped loudly, alerting me that it was charged.

"Finally." I said, leaning out of cover, but I had to snap back inside quickly to avoid several spikes. I popped out again, as the heavy armor was attempting to clear the jammed breach of his Penetrator. I fired a single laser from the weapon, disintegrating the heavy armor into a charred skeleton before pumping to charge it again. 5 shots left.

I glanced around the room, seeing the numerous amounts of fluorescent tipped spikes that were embedded in the walls.

All of them had barely missed me.

I thanked my good luck, for probably the twentieth time since this night began, and moved through the doorway where the Replicas had come from, before, once again, being suppressed back into cover by a pair of Replica soldiers waiting in ambush.

They had the better position on me; I couldn't get outside the door without being in danger of being killed.

Wait.

A sudden realization struck me. These walls are rotten and damaged, so it shouldn't be too hard to do this. I leaned against the wall, placing my ear against it. I heard the vibrations from the Replicas talking on the other side of the wall. Perfect.

I pulled my shotgun off my back and pumped two rounds through the wall. I killed one Replica, and then shot another round of buckshot, tearing into the second Replica. I dug into my pockets and reloaded three shells into my shotgun before replacing it on my back and going through the doorway. The hallway gave out about halfway down the hall, creating a large hole to the floor below. I leapt down the hole, landing in the hallway below.

I moved through the hallway quickly, illuminating the path ahead of me with my shoulder-mounted flashlight. I turned a corner, entering a small room. All of the drywall was missing from the bathroom wall, allowing me to see through it. Thumping overhead distracted me from scanning the area for threats. I glanced up to the floorboards, seeing them reverberate with every thump. Dust trickled between the boards.

"What the…?" I muttered as a giant crashing sound interrupted the rest of my sentence. A REV-6 walker crashed through the roof in a shower of wood and dust. The walker righted itself, turning and looking at me.

"Oh hell no." I said, as the dual chain guns opened fire, tearing up the floor and approaching me quickly. I dove backwards, rolling behind the wall. My head struck an exposed nail and I cursed silently, rubbing the sore spot of my head. The walker bashed through the doorframe, once again turning to look at me. I rolled forward, ending up underneath the walker. I yanked one of the grenades off my vest and tucked it neatly inside the wiring beneath the walker.

I crawled out and ran behind the walker. It attempted to turn and get me, but before it could even warm up its machine guns, the giant anthropoid walker exploded in a shower of sparks and scrap metal. I continued walking, dodging around the debris that the REV-6 had brought with it as it fell through the ceiling. I crawled through a hole that was rotted into the wall and found myself in another hallway. This one, however, ran along the perimeter of the building. The broken windows gave me a clear view at the other dilapidated buildings and the crisp night sky.

I glanced at my watch. 3:57 AM.

It's really late…

…

… Or early. Whatever.

I glanced out the windows, staring at the rundown shell of what used to be an apartment complex across the street from me.

Something moved in the darkness.

I instinctively dropped back a step to hide behind the window, barely glancing out into the darkness. I couldn't see anything, but I swear I saw something move in one of the windows across the street. Not wanting to take any chances, I crawled down the hall, under the view of the windows. Eventually, the wall disappeared, revealing a roof I could hop down on. I did so, landing softly on the concrete roof. I ducked quickly behind a large air conditioner, peaking around the corner to see if there was any more movement in the windows.

There it was again. It couldn't be the wind, for it was too deliberate. Too careful. Too planned. I snuck around the air conditioner, using it to obstruct the path of vision between myself and the mystery window thing. I snuck into the building via an open doorway on the roof, quickly climbing a set of stairs to arrive on the level. I placed my back to the wall and glanced around the corner.

A Replica soldier was standing there, wearing black coveralls over his usual fatigues and Kevlar. He held a sniper rifle in his arms, and every so often he was leaning out the window, using the scope to search for me.

Thank God I was being careful earlier.

"Looking for me?" I asked, as the Replica spun around, reacting to my voice. But I had already lined the clone up in my red-dot sight. I fired a quick three round burst into him, sending the soldier toppling out of the window with a scream. I explored the rest of the room, eventually finding a door that was actually on its hinges and functioning like a real door should. I opened the door, entering a small supply closet. The shelves were bare and dusty, and the wall directly in front of me had a huge hole punched through it.

Alice Wade was standing there, visible in the other room through the hole in the wall. She looked absolutely terrified.

"Miss Wade!" I exclaimed in surprise, stepping forward to the hole. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't respond.

A hand snaked around her waist, while another held a jagged piece of glass to her throat.

"Is this who you're looking for?" Paxton Fettel taunted, leaning out from behind Alice.

"Help me…" She whispered, her eyes filled with fear.

"Let her go, Fettel!" I yelled, raising my SMG.

"Uh-uh-uh." He smiled, pressing the glass against her throat menacingly. "We don't want any unnecessary blood to be spilled here."

I clicked the safety off my SMG, and Fettel smiled even broader.

"Are you going to risk it? Risk me slashing her pretty little throat with my death spasms?" He asked, burying his head in the crook of her neck and taking a deep whiff. Alice's face reflected disgust for a second. "Mmm… She smells… Delicious."

"Dammit, what the hell do you want?!" I yelled, as Fettel leaned his head close to Alice and licked her ear. She recoiled as much as she could with the piece of glass to her throat and the vice grip of the cannibal around her waist.

"You'll get your answers soon, my esteemed rival." He said, yanking Alice to the right and out of my sight.

"Shit." I muttered, running through the open doorway on my right. I sprinted through the damaged hallway, sprinting in front of an elevator, even though I felt someone's eyes burning on me from inside. I rounded a corner still at full sprint, and then I saw something that made my blood freeze.

Alice Wade was dead.

She was lying in a pool of her own blood in the corner of the room where she and Fettel stood not a minute ago. Her throat was torn out, revealing glistening meat and the slight white of a spine. Her eyes, once so full of hope, were now glazed over. She stared dully at me as I walked quickly towards her. I dropped to my knees, noticing her face that was contorted into, what looked to be, a gasp of surprise. I can't believe it… She's

_She told me so many things…_

dead. Just as Fettel infiltrated my head, my world flashed white, and Alice Wade and all of the blood splattered around the ground was gone. Fettel chuckled, his laugh echoing around my mind. I got to my feet, slightly unnerved that Fettel could do such a hallucination without pulling me into that nightmare hospital corridor that he had used before.

That thought was weird, and just sort of came naturally. Could it be possible that Fettel was causing those hallucinations? It was very possible, with him being an extremely powerful psychic and all. I left this room, entering the next one quickly and noticing the big windows directly in front of me.

I crossed the threshold of the door and…

Flash.

Speak of the bloody devil. I was back in that hallway again. My head started throbbing slightly as I climbed the stairs directly in front of me, noticing the solid steel doors at the top.

But I noticed a small, dark patch of shadow in the corner of the door more than the doors themselves. As I approached, the shadow materialized into a little girl, one that I hated with all of my being.

"Alma." I tried to say, but before I could get the words out I was thrown backwards, down an impossible length of hallway into darkness. I ran back towards the doors, feeling like I was floating again.

And so I ran, ran towards the flashing light and the little girl in the red dress. I knew I should be running the other way, but for some reason I was attracted to that light. I was worried that the doors would never get any closer, and that I would be stuck where I was forever. However, they did, eventually, and as I approached them Alma giggled and waved at me.

Suddenly, she disappeared and the doors were thrown open with such force that they cracked the walls behind them.

Those specters, those nightmares, flew out of the ever-burning fires behind that door and towards me. I fired with my SMG, dissipating the first three. Another scream alerted me to another that flew at me at high speed, but I still eliminated it.

And just like that, I was back in the window room of the apartment complex. I shook my head, popping another painkiller just for good measure, and then kicked out the window. I got on the sheet metal that made the overhang on the edge of the building, and then hopped down into an alleyway between two of the warehouses.

The alleyway was tight, warehouses lining both sides of the small path. I walked forward, glancing at every darkened window I passed to see if there were Replicas inside.

"The Rammelmeier compound is just ahead. It looks like the largest concentration of enemy forces are in that area." Betters alerted me. I voiced my thanks and continued walking.

Lights blinded me. I put a hand in front of my eyes, blocking out the bright lights to see what was causing them.

My heart skipped a beat.

A large delivery truck was speeding down the alleyway, even though it barely fit in the narrow path. The sides of the truck scraped the edges of the building, creating sparks that flew into the night air.

My head shot side to side, looking for an escape. On my right was a dark window, about waist high off the ground. Without a second thought I dove forward, using my arms to cover my head, and crashed through the glass. I rolled to my feet, glancing out the window to see the truck go speeding past.

I exhaled a deep breath that I had been unknowingly holding and activated my flashlight, leaving the dark warehouse.

"ATC patrols cars are approaching from the west. I got a feeling this situation is about to blow up big time." Betters spoke again. "You need to get in that facility and get out."

I entered the first door I found, entering a large loading area. A few Replica soldiers spun towards the sound of the heavy metal door opening. They fired at me, but I had already taken cover behind a large red container. I leaned out, seeing that there was three Replicas spread out on the catwalk above the ground, and two Replicas huddled behind a small pile of boxes on the ground.

One of the Replicas on the balcony threw something.

I picked it up right away as it flew through the air.

A frag grenade.

It seemed to be traveling in slow motion, so I lifted my SMG and fired a three round burst into the grenade just as it was above the two Replicas behind the boxes. They exploded, their upper torsos disintegrated in a split second. The Replicas on the catwalk seemed confused at what I had just done, so I killed them quickly as well. When all of the clones were dead, I walked across the open room and kicked open a door labeled Authorized Personnel Only on the other side. I had entered some sort of equipment room. Yellow stripes were painted on the walls.

I literally jumped as I saw what was in the room.

Jankowski stood there, his empty eye sockets bearing holes into me.

"She's close now." He whispered. "Her presence is strong here. Be careful."

And with those words of warning, he disappeared into ash. I touched my radio.

"Boss, are Jankowski's life signs still reading?"

"They're still going haywire. Search and rescue was called off for him. I'm hoping he just hit his head hard and is just wandering the piers with amnesia… But I've never seen anything like this on his heart monitor or anything." The F.E.A.R. commissioner said, and I nodded sadly, moving through the room.

I climbed a set of stairs and entered a large wood attic-type room. Wood covered literally every surface of the room, from the floor to the walls to the pillars to the roof. The only thing not wood was the caged elevator directly in front of me. But I had more pressing issues at hand.

A pair of ATC commandos were dead on the ground, their throats slit. I glanced around quickly, my ears perked up and listening for any sounds I heard.

I felt it before I saw it; a gust of wind lightly ruffled my hair as a knife plunged into the pillar directly in front of me. I groped blindly, grabbing something invisible but solid out of the air. I brought my forearm up underneath whatever I had grabbed, and I heard a shout of pain. I smirked slightly, knowing I had broken the arm of the assassin. I heard a shift behind me, and I ducked under the arm that I had broken and wrapped my arms around the invisible man. He screamed loudly and began emitting sparks I dropped him and took a step back as both assassins became visible. One of the two had run the other through with his knife. He pulled it free, letting the other assassin fall dead to the floor.

"Your cloaking fields off." I said, pulling up my SMG and firing three shots into the skull of the wannabe-ninja. Blood and brains jettisoned out of the back of the clone's head, and he fell limply like a puppet that had its strings cut. I shook my head, but the crackling of a radio made me look to the dead bodies of the commandos.

"What the hell is going on up there?!" None other than Norton Mapes yelled.

"We're getting our asses kicked by these fucking clones!" Came a reply over the barrage of gunfire.

"Listen to me, you minimum wage commando! Do NOT let them through or... or you're fired! You hear me!?" Mapes responded, and I smirked. Could the fat ass not know how to threaten people?

I stepped into the elevator and pulled the cage shut. Before I could press the button, my radio crackled again.

"This is Baby Bear. The medevac arrived and we're loading up." Holiday said. "I can still rendezvous with the point and-"

"Negative. Your job is to exfiltrate the mission site and await further instructions." Betters cut him off. "Thanks for the help Master Sergeant."

There was a long pause before Holiday responded.

"No problem." He was lying through his teeth. He wanted to be in this elevator with me right now. "Wish I could've done more... Hey, point."

"Go for point." I said.

"Kick some ass. Kill one for me, yeah?"

I smirked.

"Will do." I pressed the down button.

And suddenly I was the one going down. Somehow I had fell through the bottom of the elevator. I screamed as I fell to my death, but when I impacted, it wasn't concrete like I had originally believed it was.

It was blood. I spit the mouthful of the life liquid I caught in my mouth out, grimacing at the copper-y taste on my tongue.

And then I noticed that I wasn't the only one treading water in this hellish bath, a trio of skeletons was joining me. My heart began pounding, and my head was starting to throb with each pound, yet again. I glanced through the red liquid and saw a small square of light at the bottom of the pool. I took a deep breath and dove down, swimming through the blood and approaching the square.

Something was there. Dark hair obscured most of the square, but it slowly slid away as I approached. As I entered the square, I spun right side up and landed in a hallway. Blood was running off of me in streams.

It was that hallway again. This time, however, I was zoomed forward and before long I was standing before the featureless steel doors. I pushed them open, once again arriving in that hallway with the dirty windowed doors and hospital gurney. I walked forward, moving to the doors and throwing them open.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Echoed in my mind as I somehow left the hospital and ended up in a black void. Fires burned all around me, and several of those Nightmares rose from the flames before launching themselves at me. I killed several before I felt a searing pain on my shoulder. A Nightmare flew by, and I glanced to my right shoulder. It had raked its claws across my shoulder, through my Kevlar and creating deep lacerations on my shoulder.

But worst of all, my flashlight had been ripped off and landed on the ground before erupting into a small fire. I fired at the Nightmare, making it disappear.

And just like that, I was back in the elevator.

"Shit." I managed to get out, before I lowered to myself on shaking legs to sit on the ground of the elevator. A cold sweat covered me, my head throbbed, my heart pounded, and my entire body trembled. Tears of terror rolled down my cheeks. I took two more aspirin as I sat on the ground, trying to get my breath, and courage, back.

Pain lanced through my body, originating at my shoulder. I glanced at it, not surprised to see the injuries that had occurred to me in the hallucination had carried into the real world.

And my flashlight was still gone.

I wearily reached up and pressed the down button. The elevator shuddered slightly, and then began moving down slowly.

"I want you to get out of there as soon as you've got Wade and the girl. Forget Fettel for the time being." Betters said. "This situation is getting more and more fucked up by the minute, and I'm not risking you again until I debrief both of them in person."

"Thanks boss." I said, smiling slightly. Wiping the snot and tears away from my face and getting to my feet. I shook my head, holding my SMG ready.

I just hoped I wouldn't lost it before I completed that objective.

…

**A/N – Apologies for the long delay. I was entertaining people all weekend. Next up, PROJECT ORIGIN CHAPTER ONE. BOOYAH!**

**Zeromaru Chaos Mode: I took your suggestion… I don't know what else to say. Thanks I suppose. **

**ShadowLea: Haha thanks for fighting through the lack of Internet to at least stay connected to the story. (Oh God, look at that pun. I'm a fucking genius.)**

**Purple Eco Sage: Well. If a girl was defenseless and in danger I figure most people would react like that. And, if you know F.E.A.R., you would know that there most certainly can't be a pairing.**

**Anon. Reader #1: No, thank you.**


	10. PO Interval 01 : Premonition

**Project Origin**

**Interval 01**

**Premonition**

SITUATION:

Operation team Dark Signal has been diverted from an assignment to assist an SFOD-D mission in the Auburn industrial district.

The new orders are to proceed to the private residence of Genevieve Aristide of Armacham Technology Corporation.

MISSION:

SFOD-D operatives will secure and transport Genevieve Aristide into protective custody.

---

It was that dream again.

He'd been having it for quite some time now, but never had it been this intense, this vibrant.

He stood in a meadow, just like one in Everytown, USA. The grass was long and swayed in the breeze, tickling the hands that he held at his sides. It was nice, serene even. He walked, like he always did, up the rolling hill and to the top.

There was a tree there, that maybe once was beautiful and vibrant, but now it was merely dead and decaying. There was a single branch still intact with the tree, and from that large branch hung a simple swing.

And she was on that swing.

He never knew her, never got close enough to get a good look at her, but she was always on that swing.

Flash.

This was new.

He was on his hands and knees now, staring at cracked and split pavement. He pulled himself to his feet, using the burned out shell of a car on his left to assist him in doing so.

And she was there.

He knew it, instantly, even though he had never seen her before this close, he knew.

She was the girl on the swing.

Her red dress dipped down to her knees, while her black hair fell down from her head and over her face, reaching her shoulders. Her eyes burned yellow, and she had a neutral expression on her pale face.

She gestured for him to follow her with one hand; as the other was clutching the arm of a doll that hung limply from her side. She spun on her heel and walked away, disappearing with a strange flash. He now took in his surroundings.

It looked like he was in downtown, but that couldn't be true.

Everything was destroyed.

Buildings were ruined, cars were burned out, and even the pavement was split and cracked. Above it all, the sky was blood red, spinning in a vortex. He stumbled forward, disoriented and walking slowly.

She materialized a bit ahead of him, walking in front of headlights, somehow still active in the destroyed car, casting eerie shadows on the destroyed husks of buildings. She paused, turning back towards him and gesturing for the man to follow her again. He did, stumbling forward without regard to how he felt.

Once again, she disappeared into ash and he felt alone. He blindly stumbled down the road again, looking back and forth frantically for her.

The street abruptly ended in a large crater. A large branch dangled from off of a nearby building. And from that branch was a simple swing, swaying lightly in the breeze.

"Swing." She said softly in his ear. He nodded, his mouth dry. He gripped the ropes on either side of the plank, before lowering himself slowly onto the wood. He kicked off the concrete, swinging slightly. As he swung back and forth the world began to fade around him.

The red sky, dilapidated buildings, and broken street all faded, and were quickly replaced by cool metal. The wood plank he was sitting on eventually became a soft seat, and like that he was back in his APC.

Problem was, he was alone. A haunting melody began filling the inside of the tank, and he glanced to the seat on his right. A small wooden music box was there, intricately carved as the small wheel spun in the center. It slowed down eventually, ending the song.

Just as the song ended, the air in the APC began to distort, and she flew out of the distortion, launching herself at him.

"Why!?" She yelled as he, instinctively, grabbed her, holding her at a safe distance away from his own body. Her gold eyes burned into his soul, and tears streamed down her pale face. "Why'd they take them!?"

Sergeant Michael Becket awoke with a start inside the APC of the SFOD-D squad, codenamed Dark Signal.

"Good morning, sunshine." Sergeant Redd Jankowski said, leaning in close to Becket, snapping in his face. "Nice of you to join us."

"Get out of my face." Becket said, slapping Janowski's hand aside. The other sergeant leaned backwards, scratching his chin.

"Sit down, Redd." First Lieutenant Kiera Stokes said, leaning towards Becket. She was only a guest with Dark Signal but her personality and, more importantly, her looks made all of the soldiers request that she became a permanent fixture in the division. "Becket, I need to calibrate your visor."

Becket nodded, giving her his high-tech looking shooters glasses. The glasses had blue lenses and a Bluetooth-looking thing hanging off the frames. Stokes took them, plugged a small cord coming out of a laptop into them. The frames lit up, and the Lieutenant handed them back to Becket, who slid them on his head.

INITIALIZING KERNEL..........

KERNEL LOADED.

READY.

----------

----------

SYSTEM CHECK.... OK

WEAPON LINK.... OK

HEART MONITOR.... OK

ARMOR MONITOR.... OK

All systems of the KERNAL system combat assistant were activated.

"What do ya' think they want this Aristride chick for anyway?" Jankowski asked, glancing down to adjust his Andra FD-99 Submachine Gun.

"Don't know, don't care. We don't question orders, Redd, we execute them." Dark Signal's First Sergeant, Cedric "Top" Griffin said simply, standing up. The black man had an imposing stature, and he was the de-facto commander of Dark Signal. A monitor, not unlike those flip-down DVD players in civilian vehicles, lowered from the ceiling. "Stokes, give us what you got."

"The target's name is Genevieve Aristride." The female first lieutenant started, tucking a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear. An image flashed on screen of an ordinary looking woman, save the weathered face. Becket closed his eyes and massaged his temples. What the hell was that dream? "She's the president of Armacham Technology Corporation. Intel gathered by the F.E.A.R. team indicates that she's holed up in her penthouse and that she's strongly linked to the events that have been happening tonight. Our objective is to infiltrate the penthouse and take Miss Aristride into protective custody."

There was silence, as all of the members of Dark Signal had been involved with the securing of the Auburn district after the F.E.A.R. point man had tracked the target to the Armacham HQ.

"Hear that, people? Protective custody." Top said, pushing the monitor back into the roof. "I don't want any breakage, regardless if she resists or not."

Next to Becket, Gunnery Sergeant Harold Keegan shut his eyes tightly and rubbed his head.

"And there's every reason to believe that she might, especially if she really is linked to the bloodbath that had happened tonight." Stokes finished as Top sat back down.

"Like I said... Don't know... Don't care. She's a high-value target and we've been tasked to bring her in, so that what we're gonna do. I want this by the book and fuck-up free." The imposing First Sergeant said.

"Lighten up, Top." Redd said, chuckling. "She's a suit. What's the worst that could happen, she'll send us a nasty text message? Ooooh… Scary stuff."

"She's not the problem." Stokes interrupted, cocking her own Andra SMG. "CentCom thinks Armacham's board of directors may be trying to cover their tracks, which could include making sure Aristide keeps her mouth shut."

The APC slowed down, and Becket glanced at Top, who had made his way to the back of the armored transport. He pointed at Sergeant James Fox first.

"Fox, you're with Stokes. Keegan, you're with me. Becket, Redd… Manny will drop you off in front of the building. We'll link up in the lobby." All of the soldiers nodded, grabbing their personal weapons and leaving the APC. Both Redd and Becket opened their mouths to protest, however Redd blurted it out first.

"Shit! How come I'm stuck with Bucket?!" Redd yelled, and Becket released a displeased sound at his stupid nickname. Keegan shook his head again and left the APC last, just as Top leaned in close to Redd.

"'Cause I don't like crybabies." Top growled. "Now move out!" He left the APC and the door slid shut with a hydraulic whoosh. Redd pulled on his own KERNAL glasses, just as a picture of Top appeared in the bottom left corner and his voice came in through their earpieces.

"Remember, people... Trigger discipline. Our mission is to find Aristide, not cap her ass."

"This op is bullshit, man." Redd said, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling, away from Becket's eyes. "I get stuck with this jerkoff."

"Believe me, the feeling's mutual." Becket muttered dangerously, absently running a hand through his brown hair, slightly spiked up.

"Hey, just be glad they didn't divert us to Armacham HQ. The recon team they sent in got ripped to shreds. That situation is getting out of control." Sergeant Manuel "Manny" Morales said from his position in the driver's seat of the APC, his heavy Mexican accent coming through his words. "Alright, amigos, this is your stop."

The APC stopped and the backdoors opened, as Redd and Becket left the confines of the small transport vehicle and stepped into the crisp night. Both of them grasped the Andra FD-99 Submachine Guns in their hands, the design based off of the popular FAMAS rifle.

"Damn." Redd said, brushing off his urban digi-camouflage sleeves. "This is some deluxe shit. The only Penthouse I ever seen had staples in the middle."

He snorted at his own joke, and Becket rolled his eyes, moving across the parking lot.

Deluxe shit was right, the skyscraper just screamed money and power. The entire building was made from glass, it seemed, and in the middle of the roundabout before the main entrance was an incredible fountain. A statue of a woman stood in the middle of the water, pouring a waterfall down from the vase in her hands.

The pair walked up to the main entrance, pulling on the heavy wood doors. Locked.

"Looks like the main entrance is blocked." Redd said, peering through the darkened opaque glass.

"Well, we wouldn't want things to be too easy now, would we?" Becket said, and the pair moved next to a coffee shop on the side of the building. Their rubber-soled boots making no sound on the concrete, and if there wasn't the soft clinking of magazines together, it would be like they were ghosts.

The door to the coffee shop was open, and the two soldiers stepped into a room of warmth and the smell of fresh coffee beans.

"Top." Fox spoke into their radio, the red-headed man's image appearing in the KERNAL system's communication area. "Somebody wasted a janitor in the men's room. Point blank in the back of the head, execution style."

"Something went down in the lobby, too." His image was replaced by that of the First Sergeant. "One confirmed, another probably, judging by the blood. Hurry and rendezvous people."

The two soldiers went behind the counter of the coffee shop and opened a door into the stairwell of the penthouse.

"Dude, I could really go for an extra hot no-whip white chocolate macchiato." Redd muttered wistfully, and Becket literally stopped and stared at him.

"And you call me gay?" He asked, smiling smugly. Redd replied with a 'fuck you, Bucket' and the pair continued moving. They approached a railing with a door in the small well not two feet below it. Becket vaulted

_My babies… Give them back._

the railing without a second thought. As he landed he tensed up, looking around the room before turning to Redd.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what, fuck stick?" Redd asked, hopping over the railing as well and throwing open the door. Becket stood there in momentary confusion before following his teammate.

"Ya'll sure took your damn time." Top said, holding up a security gate that was half way closed.

"Sorry, boss man, but Becket was seeing the sights." Redd said as he crawled underneath the gate. Becket didn't respond and did the same thing, allowing Top to release the gate, which clanged to the ground loudly.

The rest of Dark Signal was waiting in the darkened lobby, all dressed identically. Urban digi-camo short sleeve shirts, on one sleeve had their rank and the other had the symbol of Dark Signal. Over that they wore black Kevlar vests, their surnames printed on the left breast of each of them. Pants were basic gray combat pants, tucked into black combat boots. Knee and elbow pads were also part of the uniform, as well as the blue glasses of the KERNAL system.

"Back room clear." Keegan said, emerging from behind the desk, his SMG hanging loosely from its sling. Blood was splattered all over the expensive wood, and a body of a security guard was slumped in a desk chair behind it. Stokes went behind the desk, and wiped blood off the computer monitor before going to work on the keyboard.

"Our intel shows this is a private elevator to Aristide's penthouse, but it's been locked down." She said over the clacking of keys. Becket glanced around warily. Something didn't feel right about this building. "I'll need a minute to override the system… Unless you'd rather take the stairs."

"Fuck that." Redd spoke curtly, crossing his arms and frowning. Meanwhile, Keegan was investigating the body of the dead security guard.

"Someone sure bled out fast." He said.

"Probably took one to the aorta." Redd said, sauntering over to look at the body as well. Fox and Top glanced at each other. Keegan snorted with laughter.

"The aorta? You think it was the carotid or the sub-clavian artery?" He said, smiling at the blonde haired soldier.

"Dude. Making fun of a man for his intelligence is a sign of insecurity, twat wad." Redd said, immaturely sticking his tongue out at Keegan. Becket smiled in spite of himself at the antics of the soldier.

"We need to find Aristride, now!" Stokes said, as she left the computer console. Obviously she was getting sick of the arguments. Top nodded.

"Agreed. Fox, secure the lobby. Stokes, Becket, and Keegan, you're with me." He said, as Fox flashed the 1SGT a thumbs up. Top turned next to Redd Jankowski. "Redd. Take the stairwell."

"Are you fuckin' kidding me, Top?! It's like, a thousand fucking stories!"

"Then you better start walking." He said, as Redd left with a string of curses. The four remaining soldiers moved to the elevator. Stokes pressed the call button, which lit up.

Becket watched the numbers on the wall go down as the elevator approached the ground.

Suddenly, his head exploded in agony, and he slumped against the wall. But he wasn't the only one.

"Shit…! Not again!" Keegan muttered, clutching his head as another headache split through his brain. He staggered slightly, not noticing that Becket had fallen against the wall.

"Keegan? What's wrong?" Came Stokes' concerned voice. The elevator pinged as it reached the ground floor, and

_Watch out._

the doors slid open.

A short report of gunfire reached Becket, and his head snapped up as Keegan collapsed with a quick spurt of blood.

"Keegan!" Stokes yelled. Top quickly dispatched of the man in the elevator, as Stokes and Becket got down to help their wounded comrade.

"Fuck!" He groaned as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. Blood trickled out of a wound in his abdomen. "Son of a bitch…!"

Fox came running into the elevator room, hearing the gunfire from the lobby. He bent down and checked Keegan's wound.

"The Kevlar stopped most of the rounds. One got through." The calm veteran said simply, dropping his SMG and pulling out a simple first aid kit. "It's not good, but he'll live."

"Damn it!" Keegan grunted again, pressing his hand tightly against the wound.

"We'll stabilize him." Top said, as he and Fox rifled through the med-kit. "Stokes, take Becket and secure Aristride!"

The two nodded and entered the elevator, standing in the rapidly pooling blood from the dead body inside. The doors closed smoothly. Stokes ducked down to investigate the shooter and Becket stood there simply, staring out the glass walls of the elevator into the night. Redd's picture flashed on the KERNAL's screen.

"Keegan. You alright?" He said, concerned for the safety of his friend. Keegan's image popped on screen and everyone could hear labored breathing.

"Redd…" He muttered, full of pain. "I think they… They hit… My aorta."

There was a moment of silence before all of the Dark Signal operatives burst out laughing.

"Man, give it a rest." Redd said, out of breath from either laughing or climbing the thousands of stairs.

"Look at the view, Becket." Stokes said, glancing out the window as well. The land was covered in darkness; the faint shimmering of water was visible, as were the hundreds of lights pock marking the near perfect blanket of darkness. Becket nodded.

"It's certainly something." He muttered, looking more at Stokes than into the night. The lieutenant didn't notice.

"Alright, Becket. It's just the two of us now. So let's stay sharp." She said softly. He nodded, his face full of resolve. The elevator pinged, and the pair of soldiers exited the elevator. They had entered a sort of courtyard area, and they hadn't even taken six steps before a barrage of gunfire forced them to duck down into cover. The pair returned fire, killing the three ATC troopers that had attempted to ambush them. As they walked by, they heard the radio of one of the soldiers crackle.

"Colonel, it's the fucking military!" Came a panicked voice. A more mature, steadier voice replied.

"I don't care if it's a water buffalo, a tyrannosaurus rex, Godzilla, Napoleon, King Tut, in fact, I don't give a shit who it is. Just kill the bastards!" He roared into the radio.

"I bet he's just a delight at the Armacham Company Christmas party." Becket said, and Stokes smiled. The pair walked over to an ordinary looking door among the planters.

"Becket, you go in here. I'll find another entry and we'll meet up." Stokes said, Becket nodded and entered the door as the female lieutenant went back into the courtyard.

"Redd. Where are you?" Top Griffin radioed in.

"Still climbing stairs, chief." Redd replied, winded.

"That's just sad, man. No other way to put it."

"Blow me, el capitan."

Becket moved stealthily through the dark rooms of the penthouses. A few ATC troopers engaged him, but he quickly dealt with the poorly paid and motivated commandos. The Delta Operative battled his way through the several public areas, killing any ATC troopers he came across. He was moving through another simple hallway, that he had just cleared, when it happened.

A sudden shockwave ripped through him, causing his body to jerk violently and making his head spin. He fell to one knee, grasping the wall for support.

"What the hell was that…?" He wondered aloud, suddenly out of breath and covered in a cold sweat.

"Did anybody else feel that?" Fox asked over the radio, breathlessly. Becket, Top, and Keegan all responded that they had. Stokes, Redd, and Manny, strangely, had not. What the hell happened?

"We'll worry about it later. Everybody keep moving." Top's curt voice told them all, but he too was trying to catch his breath. Becket replied positively and got to his feet, continuing down the hallway.

Eventually the hallway he was in opened into a large pool area, but something was off.

The pool was red.

Becket curiously got down on one knee and reached his hand into the liquid, pulling out a bit and licking it. He instantly spat it out, reacting to the tangy, familiar copper-like taste.

Blood.

"Top, I just made it to the top of the stairs." Redd reported, out of breath.

"About damn time. Try to catch up with Stokes and Becket."

"Will do."

"I'm on my way up."

What the hell was this stuff? How was an entire pool filled with blood? That's impossible... Right? Thoughts swarmed through Becket's head as he stood back up.

But suddenly, he felt something push him. It was just a slight nudge, but it was enough to send him toppling ass-over-tea kettle into the blood.

As soon as he made contact with the liquid, his vision flashed white.

Something was floating in the water.

Wires ran out of numerous parts of its body as it twitched violently, trying to escape from the constricting prison that it was in.

_She's been there for 12 years… Floating in darkness._

Lights lit up behind it, illuminating the creature. It looked like a human corpse. The black hair was thin, every individual strand visible. The eyes were gaunt and sunken in, the skin was stretched tight over its nude frame. The creature suddenly spun towards where Becket was floating. It seemed to smile before lunging at him with a scream.

Becket yelled himself as he leapt backwards, exploding out of the cool water of the shallow end of the pool. Water filled the pool again, and all of the lights were active. Becket spiked his wet hair up again, before leaving the pool. He moved through the tiled room, water running off of every part of him.

He traveled through a changing room, finally arriving at Aristride's penthouse. He opened the door, which was surprisingly unlocked, and stepped inside.

The first room was a living room. Comfortable looking couches surrounded a pristinely clean coffee table. The entire wall was a giant window; looking out onto the city, dawn breaking over the tall reach of the skyscrapers.

"I'm not running into much resistance." Stokes said.

"Me neither. I guess they were all going after Bucket." Redd responded.

"Lucky me." Becket said, climbing the intricate staircase in front of him. As he approached a long hallway, his KERNAL began acting up.

It flashed a couple times before going dead completely.

"Piece of junk…" Becket muttered, taking the glasses off and looking at them. He wondered if his, uh… "Dip" in the pool had effected the high-tech glasses at all. But that would be impossible, those things were issued to US Navy SEALs for water insertion missions as well. He slid them back on his head, lifting his gaze to stare down the empty hallway.

But the hallway was no longer empty.

She was there.

The little girl from his dreams.

He opened his mouth, surprised, trying to think to say something. Before closing it, mentally chastising himself.

What the hell was he supposed to say?

But it was her… There was no mistaking it. The red dress, the black hair, hell, she even brought the doll along.

She walked calmly down the hallway, without a care in the world. As she approached the open doorway at the end of the hall, she disappeared into a cloud of ash. Becket followed her without a second thought, crossing the open doorway.

This must be the master bedroom. Becket thought, stopping and taking in the sights. A four-poster giant bed dominated the room, positioned directly to the right of the doorway. In front of him was a large mahogany bookshelf, with many well read leather bound books. A large plasma-screen TV was on one of the shelves, the screen was currently showing static.

A haunting melody reached Becket's ears, and he looked to the bookshelf where the music was coming from.

That music box was there, and she was standing in front of it, humming alongside the notes. As the song ended, she disappeared again, and Becket moved to the music box.

It looked just like the one in the APC when he was dreaming, and Becket slowly reached a gloved hand out and lightly touched the

_This can't go on. She's too dangerous._

top of the music box. He slowly shut it, and just as the box was closed

_You're telling me to seal my own daughter away…?_

the bookshelf slid aside, revealing a hidden doorway. The inside of the hidden room was very industrial, and Becket

_You knew it would come to this. We both knew._

stepped inside. Just as he was inside, the KERNAL system flickered back online, and Becket jumped slightly. As soon as he calmed down, he walked inside the room, to the wall straight across from him.

"What the hell?" He muttered, looking at what appeared to be a map of the city, framed by newspaper clippings about a variety of problems in the Auburn district. Said district was circled, and inside which a red X was planted on what was labeled "The Rammelmeier Compound". Underneath which, a message was scrawled in red pen.

"Project Origin…" He muttered, but his attention was drawn to the numerous different Polaroid pictures, taken by a voyeur it seemed, pinned around the map. There were eight in all, one of which was boring and showed only what seemed to be an electric chair, underneath which was scribbled "Still Island Nuclear Facility".

But the other seven photos were of people. Becket touched six with the fingertips of his gloved right hand.

The six pictures were of the members of Dark Signal, save Manny. Redd Jankowski's image was circled for some reason.

The seventh picture was her. The girl from his dreams, her long black hair falling in front of her face, even in the picture.

"Alma." He read the handwriting on the white part underneath the instant picture. As soon as he said her name, something whooshed open behind him, drawing his attention to a door he previously had not noticed.

"Sergeant Becket?" Genevieve Aristride asked tentatively, standing in the doorway. Her brown hair neatly framed her face, and her navy blue suit was pristine condition, despite the events of the night. Her light blue shirt was slightly unbuttoned, showing off a bit of her cleavage, between which a golden crucifix dangled from a chain.

"Miss Aristride." Becket said firmly, walking towards her, hand on his SMG. "I'm here to take you into custody."

"We don't have that much time!" She said frantically, retreating into the doorway. Becket followed her, entering a room that he could only describe as a control room. Computer equipment covered every square inch of the desks and walls in this room. Aristride strode to a computer, typing in a few commands on a keyboard. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"Out and about." Becket said simply. "Miss Aristride we have to go."

"Did you feel anything earlier? An earthquake, wind gust, shockwave, perhaps?" She asked, interrupting him. His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"… How did you know about that?" The Delta Force operative asked. Aristride made a displeased sound.

"So. He's broken his psychic barriers… This could be a problem." She muttered, as she continued typing. The big monitor on the wall began showing a room with a middle aged man typing commands in a computer, before the cylinder in the corner of the frame began opening.

"Oh God…" Aristride whispered, fearfully, as the image froze on screen, time code 18:44. The man was covered in a strange cloud, and standing in the frame…

Becket's skin prickled.

It was that monster he saw in the pool.

"What is that thing?" He asked, pointing at the screen. The image moved to every single computer monitor, even those that weren't active.

"That stubborn son of a bitch probably just killed us all..." She whispered, before turning to Becket.

"Sergeant Becket?" She asked, as she began disintegrating into ash. Becket cried out, reaching out to grab her but all he caught was the black snow. "What's wrong?" Her voice echoing around the room.

A giggle behind him made Sergeant Michael Becket spin around. Standing in the doorway was the little girl.

"Alma?" He asked, the word leaving his mouth sounded wonderful and beautiful. She giggled again, motioning for him to follow her.

"Come." Her voice echoed in his mind. Without hesitation, he did so, leaving the control room and following her.

He would follow her anywhere.

…

**A/N: Decided to fulfill my promise last chapter and write Project Origin chapter one… After I had finished half of Interval 09 for F.E.A.R.. So I'm going to try to get that up tomorrow. F.E.A.R. has Intervals 09, 10, and 11 left before the story is over, and we move solely into the exploits of Michael Becket and Co.**

**Oh I almost forgot! This Chapter takes place DURING F.E.A.R. Intervals 09 - 11, so some explanations will be in given in the next few chapters.  
**

**Anyway, on the other hand, this story has reached 1500+ Hits! Thanks to ya'll who read this, but the fact that we only have 17 Reviews and that many hits is a bit unsettling, no?  
**

**Reviews are always welcome.**

**Wejx89: Wow dude, thanks a lot. I didn't think I was that good… Hahaha.**

**Zeromaru Chaos Mode: Um. Yes.(?)**


	11. FEAR Interval 09 : Incursion

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 09**

**Incursion**

SITUATION:

Replica Elite soldiers and Armacham security forces have already entered the facility. ATC's motives are unknown, but their intentions are clearly hostile.

Paxton Fettel is believed to be inside, as well.

Harlan Wade is inside the facility, but his current whereabouts are unknown. Alice Wade has not been located.

MISSION:

Primary objectives are to secure Harlan and Alice Wade and to eliminate Paxton Fettel. F.E.A.R. point man should also attempt to gather intelligence on facility and Armacham security's objectives at the site.

---

The elevator landed with a crash that reverberated the metal box. I pulled the cage door open as the control panel began sparking and stepped out into the Rammelmeier compound.

The stale air of the warehouse above was gone, replaced instead with air that smelled like a hospital. As it should, this effing facility was probably more sterile than most hospitals I had been in during my life.

The area I was in was a storage-type area. The clean shelves held a variety of medical and scientific equipment. I stepped forward, noticing with a small hint of humor that I was covered in dirt, grime, and blood and walking through this sterile facility like I owned the damn place.

"Intruder alert." Came a cool female voice. Apparently I didn't.

An automatic turret dropped down from the ceiling and fired a large burst of machine gun fire towards me, tearing up the equipment on the shelves. I slid forward on the smooth tile floor, whipping the Type-7 off my back. I turned the gun on as the turret tried to track me. I simply fired one shot, disintegrating the turret.

I pumped the gun before shutting it down. 4 more shots. I walked through the room and tried the double doors on the other side.

Locked.

I pulled out my AT-14 pistol and shot through the lock, blowing open the door. I kicked the heavy steel doors open, and they slid neatly open on their well-lubricated hinges.

I walked down the hallway, neatly dodging the stacks of boxes and scientific equipment, before turning a corner and ending up in another hallway, almost identical to the one I had just left.

A pair of shatterproof windows was on the wall directly in front of me, and behind that barrier was Norton Mapes, diligently working on a computer in the room, pausing every so often to throw a file into a nearby trashcan, alight with a fire. His head turned to meet my eyes, and he jumped back a few steps, shaking his head wildly.

"Do something about him!" He said, terrified, his beady little eyes darting frantically between the computer monitor and me. "I'm not finished wiping these drives… I need more time!" He said, as a group of ATC security guards ran from a part of the room I couldn't see. They exited the room a bit further down the hallway from me, turning and locking the door behind them before engaging me.

I fired my SMG with surgical accuracy, splattering brains and blood against the sterile walls of the laboratory before I moved down the hallway, gingerly stepping over the corpses that I had just created.

I entered a large laboratory area; many desks were in the area, all of which had a variety of scientific equipment strewn about them. A pair of ATC guards entered the lab from the other side of the room, and I quickly ducked down beneath a desk as gunfire tore up the surface. I blindly returned fire, pushing the guards back into cover before standing up and dealing with them with a few well placed shots.

Most of the equipment was damaged in the fight, but there was one computer that was still active. I walked to it, fishing in my deep pockets for that driver that I hadn't used since Armacham HQ. My fingers closed around a small plastic device, and my fingerless-gloved hand pulled it out of my pocket, carefully inserting it into the USB port.

The computer monitor had been blown apart in the quick skirmish, but the tower was still active, and it hummed as the drive searched for important files.

"More info on Origin. The genetic reference they used for the program was apparently a powerful psychic. Makes sense. If you want a telepathic commander, you need a telepath. And it was a woman." Betters informed me, and a chill ran up my spine. I already knew where this was going to end. "Says here she gave live birth to the prototypes. Seems Wade wasn't convinced the psychic characteristics were genetic. He figured there was a better chance they'd be passed along if the fetus gestated inside the subject. So they put her into a coma, made her carry a genetically engineered baby to term, then induced labor. That's pretty fucking sick."

I removed my device, too lost in my own thoughts to respond to the First Encounter Assault Recon commander. I left the lab area in a hurry, ejecting the spent magazine from my SMG and inserting a fresh one.

The only way out of this area was to scale a red ladder up to a small ledge, so I did just that, ducking into an air vent. I crawled in the smooth metal, before dropping down an open hole into the room where I had seen Norton Mapes before. The trashcan fire was still burning, making it impossible to recover any documents. I checked the computer, only to have the monitor alert me that the hard drive had been erased.

"Shit."

I climbed the stairs located behind the computer desk where Mapes was working, and as I ascended them, the large monitor in front of me flashed to life.

I instantly knew it was Harlan Wade in the monitor. He hadn't changed at all from that picture that was on his daughter's desk. His gray hair (complete with receding hairline) was still neatly trimmed, and his too-large nose dominated his face. He wore a pair of glasses that partially hid his tired eyes.

"Norton." He began, adjusting the camera he was speaking into. "Do you really think you can get rid of the evidence by shredding documents and wiping hard drives? Genevieve Aristide dug her own grave and she's going to have to make herself comfortable in it. Don't be a fucking lapdog and jump in after her."

And with that, the image burst into static, and I continued moving, traveling silently along the labyrinth of twisting, darkened corridors.

I missed my flashlight.

I dealt with the few ATC commandos stupid enough to try and stop me. A few of the poorly trained, paid, and motivated commandos, dropped their weapons and put their hands in the air. I walked past them, kicking their weapons in front of me as I did so. I didn't want to get shot in the back.

I wandered into a two-story room with a spiral staircase leading upstairs. A group of ATC goons attacked me, and I wasted no ammo on this team. Instead, I baked and tossed a fragmentation grenade. The combination of explosives and shrapnel dealt with all of the mercenaries that had foolishly tried to stop me. I looked at another bullet-proof window, seeing Norton Mapes look at me fearfully.

"He… He's coming!" He said, terrified. "What good are you jack-offs?"

"I'm coming for you." I said simply, pulling out my AT-14 and firing one shot between Mapes' eyes. The glass stopped it, of course, but he could see now how serious I was.

And how accurate.

He gave a short yelp of fright and scurried out of my vision. I took the stairs two at a time, ending up in a room eerily similar to the one beneath it. Once again, I traveled through the winding maze of darkened corridors, all of which looking exactly the same as the last one.

I moved quickly, taking pot shots at any of the ATC security that tried to stop me.

I knew this sounded bad, but after a long night of battling the well trained Replica army, fighting these goons from ATC seemed rather anti-climactic. They had no training, and even worse motivation. I felt so bad for one of them that I actually helped him turn the safety off on his weapon. He surrendered after that, but its just one shining example of the abysmal enemies that I was facing.

I shimmied past a box, glancing down at the body of the latest guard I had killed before entering another laboratory area. The computer in here had not been wiped yet, so I plugged my drive and waited for Betters to give me the report.

"I figured out what a synchronicity event is." He said proudly.

"Enlighten me." I responded tiredly.

"There was an incident when they lost control of Fettel. He just suddenly started freaking out. He was only about 10 years old at the time, but I guess he killed a few people. In the investigation, they discovered that there had been a telepathic link between Fettel and Alma even though she was in a coma. They concluded that she was influencing him. That must have been why they pulled the plug on Origin."

"That must be what's happening tonight…" I said, as it dawned on me. Fettel was being manipulated by Alma. This is why they had never had any problems with the telepathic clone commander before. It was beginning to make sense.

"Right. You need to keep moving, buddy."

"Roger."

I left the lab, doubling back to grab my drive that I had forgotten remove. I climbed down a red ladder, ending up in what appeared to be a steam tunnel. The hall was round, and a large cluster of pipes ran along the walls. I moved along the metal grating of the catwalk, dealing with the pair of ATC guards that fired at me.

The spent shells of my SMG tumbled onto the catwalk with a few metallic pings, before sliding through the cracks and out of my sight. Another ladder was before me, and I grasped the sides, climbing out of the steam tunnel back onto the main level of the laboratory.

Or so I thought. This place was so freaking confusing.

The room I entered seemed to be an observation room of some kind, machines that did something I had no idea about lined the walls, and a large pair of windows was directly in front of me.

The windows revealed a large, cavernous room. A single bridge jutted out into a large cylinder that went from the roof down into the darkness below. It looked like a bottomless pit.

And from that pit I was getting strange vibes. I felt… Anger. Extreme anger. It was radiating up from the pit in waves, crashing over me.

It was terrifying.

But, more importantly for this moment, there were two people standing on the catwalk, in front of the open doors of the cylinder. I could make out Norton Mapes' shirt and his girth, and I assumed the grey-haired one to be Harlan Wade. I could hear their voices echoing around the room before bouncing through the air vents located above the windows.

"Look, I'm just doing my job!" Mapes said, pleadingly, wringing his hands.

"And I'm just doing what has to be done." Harlan responded calmly, and a thunderous boom echoed around the cavern. I glanced at the security monitor mounted on the wall, and saw Harlan holding what appeared to be a pistol in the grainy black and white footage. Mapes clutched his sizable stomach before slumping to the ground. Harlan spun on his heel, entering the doors in the cylinder that closed slowly behind him.

I left the room, heading down the stairs and entering the endless pit room, I ran down the bridge, arriving at the doors.

They were sealed shut, and I banged my fist on them, causing a metallic sound to echo around the room.

"He locked you out…" Mapes said weakly behind me, as he pulled himself up to a sitting position, using the railing as support. "That fuck-head."

"Give me a good reason I shouldn't finish you off." I said, pulling out my AT-15 threateningly.

"Because I know the only way to open the door." He said, clutching his hand to the wound, which was leaking blood all over his shirt and the steel walkway. "You have to divert power back to it."

"Where?" I asked, and in response, he pointed down the large hallway at the very beginning of the walkway. I got up without a second word and moved to the mouth of the tunnel. "Command, did you get all that?"

"Yes. I don't like it but…" Betters trailed off, trying to make up his mind. "The Vault… That's where Alma is being kept. And Wade's down there already. I bet you anything Fettel and Alice are down there as well. Point, you need to reroute power and get down into that Vault."

"Roger." I said, taking off down the hallway. There were monstrous power cords running along the walls. If I could follow those, I could find the generators and get that lift running again.

I ran down the hallway, took a ladder downstairs, sprinted through another hallway, and entered a door. After that little adventure, I rounded a corner.

A pair of Replicas awaited me, firing quickly and trying to catch me off balance and kill me. I took cover behind a giant steel pipe.

"I missed you guys." I said, as the soldiers paused to reload. I leaned out and dealt with the two clones with a quick burst to each of their heads, splitting them open like a rotten watermelon.

These Replicas were dressed differently than the others, wearing heavy black armor with white accents. Rather than the dark visors that the others wore, these two wore white masks that appeared to be modeled after Fettel's face.

It was very unnerving, and I had to tear my eyes away from the scary masks.

I entered the room they were guarding, a small lab area, and found another active computer. I plugged my drive into it and stepped back, waiting for Betters to alert me to the data.

"Oh Jesus. She's… She was just a kid." Betters said softly, reading the intel I had sent him. "Says here Alma was 8 years old when Origin started up. They used a little girl. No wonder they're so fucking anxious to keep the lid on this mess. Somebody's going to burn for this."

"An 8 year old kid?" I asked. I was disgusted with Armacham. They wanted a psychic commander so badly that they tortured an 8-year-old girl?

"Did I hear that right?" Holiday asked, radioing in for the first time in a while.

"No wonder Aristide hasn't returned my calls. She's probably on a plane to Jamaica." Betters said, still trying to come to terms with what they had just stumbled upon.

"My God..." Jin whispered.

I slammed my fist down on the desk. Armacham… Fettel… They were both guilty in this fucking mess.

And I would deal with both of them myself.

I grabbed my drive and walked through the laboratory. The next room had to be the generator room. A pair of steel arms ran out of a large, round generator. These arms had sockets to be plugged into on the walls, but at the current moment were unplugged. I stepped forward, walking to the control panel in front of the generator and activated it.

"That's… That's why Fettel was in the Auburn district." Jin radioed in, speaking softly. "He was looking for her… For Alma. He's going home."

"Going home or not, he's still going to die." I said resolutely, typing in commands into the computer. Jin didn't respond. A whirring of machinery alerted me that I had successfully done what I had been attempting to do, as the steel arms lifted and plugged themselves into the sockets.

Instantly, the generator hummed to life and lights lit up in the room. Electricity danced in the open core of the generator, creating strange blue lights in the room. I turned around and entered the other door in the room, walking into a small office area. The phone was ringing, and it went to voicemail as soon as I approached.

"Harlan, it's Genevieve." My ears instantly perked up. "Listen, I understand your feelings. I really do. But this is no time for sentimentality. If Origin is uncovered, every single one of us will burn for it. It's time we buried the dead, don't you think? If you want an apology, then I apologize. I was wrong. You were right. In any case, I want to be sympathetic, but the situation IS urgent. I'm sending Mapes to take care of things since you seem reluctant to do what needs to be done. I hope you can find it in yourself to assist him."

The line clicked dead, and I suddenly became more confused.

Why would Wade be sentimental about this?

A slight humming drew me out of my reverie. I turned to see a strange thing, what seemed to be a giant metal Y hovering towards me. Before I could think about it much more, the Y fired a laser beam, which sliced my SMG in half before I could react.

"Shit!" I yelled as I dropped the useless metal, instead pulling my Type-7 off of my back. The core of the Y began heating up again as it prepared to fire, but I had already let off a round with my particle weapon. The Y disintegrated with a strange hissing sound, and I pumped the future weapon and returned it to my back, pulling my shotgun out instead.

I climbed the ladder in the corner of the room, reaching the top and finding a few more of those freaky Replicas waiting for me. I dove aside, briefly aware that one of their shots pegged me square in the body armor. I fired my shotgun once, blowing the arm off of one of the soldiers before cocking it and firing again, blowing the head apart of the other.

I got to my feet and checked my chest. The Kevlar had completely stopped the bullet, but the pain I had from breathing alerted me that I had at least cracked a rib, if not broken one.

No time to think about it now. I pulled the bottle of painkillers out from my pocket and dumped half of the contents into my mouth, chewing them up and dry swallowing the pills.

I hoped I couldn't get high from this shit.

"Alma's still in there… She has to be." Betters' voice crackled in my radio. "You have to find her before ATC destroys the evidence."

I moved through a doorway, opening one back into that large tunnel at the beginning of the endless pit.

Paxton Fettel was there.

I lifted my shotgun, but realized something was wrong. He was stalking Alice Wade, who was staggering along like a zombie. Both of them appeared completely oblivious to me. As Fettel approached Alice, they both disappeared into black ash.

I was slightly unnerved at the hallucination I just had, but walked back along the catwalk. Norton Mapes was still not dead yet, surprisingly. But he was not far off. He managed to look up as I approached him.

"You have to destroy this facility. Before he lets her out." He said softly, sitting in a growing pool of his own blood. I leaned down and grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"Who's he? Fettel or Wade?" I growled in his face. Mapes shook his head.

"There are four pylons. Damage the reactor cells and you'll trigger a chain reaction. Blow the whole place to hell. Where it belongs."

"Why would he let her out? Answer me!"

"If Alma is released…"

He glanced at me, staring into my eyes and I released his collar. His eyes were full of pleading, not mischief like they usually were.

"You have to stop them… You're the… Only one who can…" My blood chilled, his voice echoing the words the dying Bill Moody had said to me earlier tonight.

"Why me? Why am I so important?" I asked, grabbing his collar again. But Mapes slumped forward, dead. I lowered my head, releasing the Hawaiian shirt of the dead fat man.

Why am I so important?

_Shouldn't a more important question be who am I?_

That's stupid. My name is…

…

I got to my feet, ignoring my own voice in my head.

I knew who I was, dammit. I didn't need my own head second-guessing me.

I stepped into the now open doors, moving to the lift on the far side. I stepped on it, glancing at the controls. I pressed the down button resolutely, and as the elevator hummed to life and began descending my radio lit up.

"I'm losing your signal. We may be out of contact from this point on." Betters alerted me, sounding very different than any of the messages he had sent me before. "Be careful of this Wade guy… God only knows what he is capable of."

"Right."

"And… Be careful. Good luck, soldier."

I tried to respond, but my radio went dead entirely before I could do it.

I suddenly felt very alone.

The lift descended steadily, and I stared down into the darkness, feeling the anger radiate back up onto me. Jankowski's specter's words of warning earlier… They had newfound significance.

I was going directly into her own backyard.

I sat in silence, waiting for the ride to end. But it didn't. The elevator continued descending slowly.

Into the Vault.

…

**A/N: Don't have much to say here. I promised, and I delivered. Even though it is 3:40 AM. Enjoy ya'll.**

**Zeromaru Chaos Mode: You'll see soon enough.**

**Alardem: Yeah, I've been taking quite a bit of liberty with the dialogue. I will go back to using the dialogue from the game, since most of it works so well.**

**FrostyDream: Thank ya'.**


	12. FEAR Interval 10 : Revelation

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 10**

**Revelation**

SITUATION:

F.E.A.R. operative has entered the Vault.

Contact with F.E.A.R. coordinator has been lost.

Norton Mapes urged the destruction of the facility due to an unspecified hazard. His motives are presumed to be selfish, but caution is recommended.

MISSION:

Objective remains to secure Harlan and Alice Wade and eliminate Paxton Fettel.

Secondary objective is to secure the test subject Alma before she is released or destroyed.

---

The elevator continued to move downward at a steady pace, and the closer it got to the bottom, the stronger I felt the anger and hate, as well as a new emotion, fear. Eventually, the elevator left the confinement of the shaft and moved down a large, open area.

A giant sphere was floating in the middle of the giant room, not attached to anything. It appeared to be made of water, which shimmered and flowed creating strange shadows along the walls of the facility. A large metallic ring circled above the entire sphere, and inside was a darker metal sphere with a glowing yellow light at the core. The elevator slowed to a stop, almost directly underneath the sphere. All of the hatred, fear, and anger that I had been feeling was radiating from the center of that sphere.

"This must be the Vault." I said, looking at the strange sight, as a computer beeped loudly. I looked upwards, seeing Harlan Wade standing in the windows of some room, staring intently at the Vault.

"Release sequence initiated." A cool female voice alerted me, and I quickly looked back at the Vault. The metallic ring on the perimeter of the sphere began slowly rotating, getting out of the way of a giant claw, like some twisted prize grabber machine, positioned itself above the Vault.

"No." I muttered, staring in horror as the claw plunged downwards and grabbed the sphere.

I ran to my right, down a hallway with the walls lined with computer equipment. Through the windows in front of me, I saw a trio of Replica soldiers sprinting down the hallway, trying to intercept me. I continued running, aware of the weight of the shotgun in my hands.

I turned another corner, and stopped abruptly, nearly dropping my shotgun in shock.

Fettel was there, kneeling over something. Blood was splattered about the room, and that something had legs sticking out from behind Fettel. Said legs were twitching randomly.

And were covered in black pants.

I stepped forward, keeping my shotgun trained on the back of the prostrate commander. He leaned down, taking another bite before rising back up, not turning to look at me.

"You're here to kill me." He said softly, as I got close enough to see Fettel's latest victim. It was just as I feared.

Alice Wade was dead, lying in a pool of her own blood. It was nearly the exact same image as the hallucination I had in that building above the Rammelmeier compound.

"You bastard. What have you done?" I managed to get out, still too surprised by this scene to respond to his statement. He merely shrugged, still not turning to look at me.

"If you're not going to kill me allow me to relieve you of your weapons." He said, as my shotgun and Type-7 were pulled away from me psychically and crushed into small squares, before falling down to the floor. I looked surprised at him for a moment, strangely aware that he had yet to kill me or take my AT-14 pistol, but he continued. "Do you know… Why I eat people?"

"I'm sure it's not simply for essential vitamins and nutrients." I responded, humoring him, taking Jankowski's comment from the beginning of the night. Fettel did not respond to my joke like I thought he would, instead, he tensed up.

"I'm not eating them for fun. Or for nutrition." He said slowly, as if he was trying to figure it out for himself. I glanced at him curiously. "It must be a part of my powers. When I eat their flesh, I can see their past, their present, and their future… It helped me find her."

"You mean Alma?"

He smirked slightly, getting to his feet and turning to look at me for the first time, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth.

"Let's go, brother. She's waiting."

I froze. And Fettel adopted a puzzled grin on his face.

"You still don't know, do you? What you are. Why you're here."

"I'm here… I'm here to kill you." I said, finding my resolve, causing Fettel to smile larger, chuckling slightly.

"Are you now?" He mused. "You didn't feel anything drawing you in? How do you think you found this place so easily? You were never told the exact coordinates."

He was right.

"What's the first thing you remember? What's your given name? Where were you born? You have no history."

"Shut up." I whispered, as he continued to berate me with questions. Flashes, memories, attacked my head. The first thing I remembered…?

"_This whacko's name is Paxton Fettel. He's the key. If we contain him, we contain the situation."_

"Where did you grow up? Who were your parents?"

"Stop it… Shut up…" I muttered, falling to my knees. What was my name? Who am I? Why am I here?

"I am the second prototype, but whatever happened to the first? The first prototype, whose psychic power was not powerful enough to be a commander of the Replicas, yet he used his powers in different ways, such as to boost his reflexes… Allowing him to perform movements with surgical accuracy in a short amount of time…" He knelt down to be at my level, staring me in the eyes. Those eyes, I noticed them for the first time since I was so close. I knew that I had seen them before.

They stared back at me every time I looked in the mirror.

"You and I were born from the same mother."

My mind basically shut down when he uttered those words. Alma… Is she…? It's impossible… The first prototype… Why do I have no memories? Why can't I find something to disagree with this monster?!

"You're lying." I said softly, shaking my head, my mind still not working. "It's impossible. You're lying."

"You must've experienced them. Hallucinations. That's what I believed them to be as well the first time they happened to me." He said, getting back to his feet. "You're subconsciously delving into people's minds."

I lifted my eyes to make eye contact with him, and he took a step back surprised.

Flash.

I was back in that fiery void, darkness surrounding and crushing me. The only light was coming from the fires burning sporadically around the void.

"See? You're doing it now." Fettel said, materializing behind me.

"What have you done to me?!" I yelled at him. And he shook his head, chuckling slightly.

"Me? No. No no no. This is all you, brother." He walked in front of me, raising his arms and spreading them. "Welcome to my mind."

I stood there, taking in the empty void with the endless fires. This is Fettel's mind? Then the hospital… Is that… Alma's?

"If what you say is true…" I said softly, staring at my feet. I was still refusing to believe him, but I felt my resolve to do so slipping away. "Why is she trying to kill me?"

Fettel lowered his arms, maintaining silence for a moment, staring into the void.

"She cannot see into your mind. Armacham constructed strong mental and psychic barriers in your mind when they wiped your memory, not allowing her to infiltrate it and influence you like she did to me twenty years ago." He turned to me. "She sees you as a monster, trying to kill me, her son, the man who is trying to free her from her prison."

"_Wh-Why can't I get into your mind?" _

Flash.

We were in a simple room. It looked like a cell. A single toilet stood in one corner, and a simple single bed sat in another. Fettel himself was kneeling in the middle of the room, looking at me.

"But you can see into hers. A simple hospital corridor. She leaves one nightmare, only to awaken in another." He said, following me with his eyes as I paced in front of him. "The headaches you've been receiving when you subconsciously use your psychic powers is your mind attempting to break the barriers that are holding your powers in check."

"You said twenty years ago… Is she not influencing you now?" I asked simply, my head throbbing.

"No."

I turned to look at him, shocked. Fettel wore a neutral expression on his face.

"She told me what she wanted me to do, but she is not controlling me this time. I am doing this on my own free will. I will set her free." He said, extending a hand towards me. I took a step away from the hand as if it held a poisonous snake. "Join me brother. Fulfill your destiny and help your mother."

"No." I said simply, shaking my head, all too aware of the AT-14 pistol on my hip.

"It is your destiny… Help your family. We can teach you to control and use your powers." I shook my head again, my head continuing to throb.

"You are her son, and my brother! JOIN US!!" He yelled, saliva flying from his lips.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I roared, as my headache instantly stopped and a shockwave ripped out of my body, simultaneously whipping the AT-14 out of its holster and firng a single shot between Fettel's eyes, killing the man. He fell back, his eyes opened in surprise.

I stood there, my head lowered, for a few seconds, all too aware now that I could _feel_ the thoughts of people all over the place. They were extremely muted, as if there was a bubble around my head, but I could feel them in my head. I could also feel what I assumed to be Fettel's psychic energy, radiating off of him like heat. It was slowly fading.

_He broke through his barriers?_

Fettel's voice echoed in my head, surprised, as his psychic energy faded into nothing. I lifted my head and stared him in the eyes as they glazed over. The clone commander was dead.

I instantly found myself back in the Vault, Fettel's body was slumped next to Alice's, his eyes open in slight surprise. Instantly, I was nearly crushed by an intense psychic energy from somewhere close by.

"Alma…" I whispered. If Fettel wasn't alive to free her… That must mean Wade's planning on doing it.

I holstered my pistol and walked past the bodies of my two objectives, climbing a short set of stairs. I jumped with surprise as I reached the top, and the three Replica soldiers stood there.

But it looked like they were turned off; they stood normally, their chins on their chests and their weapons hanging from limp hands. I stepped up to one, poking it hard. The soldier fell backwards without a fight, landing hard on the ground and made no effort to get up or move. The other two Replicas remained standing still. I guess it was like the briefing said at the beginning of the night, if Fettel was taken out the soldiers would deactivate.

I moved past the clones, down a pair of stairs into a hallway. A laptop was open on a desk in the hall, and I walked up to it, activating the laptop. An audio journal was open on the computer, recently recorded. I rewound the file and played it.

"She was a very disturbed child. Terrible, debilitating nightmares. Hallucinations. Hysteria. She never had a chance at a normal life." It was Harlan Wade speaking, sitting in front of the webcam attached to the top of the laptop. I continued to listen. "It was Disler who realized that she was telepathic. He speculated that she was extremely sensitive to the negative emotions of people around her."

He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"We removed her from that chamber only twice. She was fifteen when the first prototype was born." My skin prickled. So she had been imprisoned for 7 years before I was born? "She was supposed to be comatose. But she started screaming when we induced labor and didn't stop until the liquid filled her lungs."

"_Nooooo!! Where are you taking him?!"_

"There are plausible scientific explanations for everything that followed, but I think was really just a question of hatred." He said, replacing his glasses and staring into the camera.

"It is the way of men to make monsters. And it is the nature of monsters to destroy their makers."

The audio journal ended, and I felt a cold chill run down my spine. What did he plan to do? The psychic pressure from Alma was getting stronger by the minute, as were the negative emotions. I left the computer, realizing slightly that I no longer fought the fact that Alma was my mother.

I guess feeling all of this psychic energy was enough proof I needed.

I moved through the rest of the hallway, entering into darkness as I stepped into another elevator that offered an impressive view of the Vault floating in the cavernous room. I pressed the up button, riding he elevator upwards as the cool female voice alerted me.

"System analysis commencing." She said softly, as the clamp pulled a cylinder out of the Vault, causing smoke to billow out of the hole where it was originally. The elevator slowed to a stop in a small hallway, a door at the end had a single window in it at head level, but was locked tightly as I tried to open it. It seemed to be some type of blast door.

Harlan Wade stood in the room beyond the door, hovering over a computer console. He glanced at me through the door.

"So. You've finally arrived." He said, his voice sounding distorted through the speakers above the door. "They want to destroy her. But I think she's suffered enough."

I pounded on the door, and Harlan smiled humorlessly as he continued typing commands into the computer.

"We put her in there two days before her eighth birthday."

"Error. No life signs detected." The cool female voice spoke as the cylinder was lowered in front of Harlan Wade, just barely visible on the right side of the window for me.

"She died six days after we pulled the plug."

The emotions bombarded my mind, causing me to take a step backwards, shaking my head to clear it. Harlan slapped down on a key, which I assumed to be the enter button, and stepped back.

"Release sequence complete." The computer announced, lacking all emotion.

"This is how it ends." He said, raising his arms out extremely similar to how Fettel did in his mind. A beam of light washed over Harlan Wade as the cylinder opened, smoke pouring out of the chamber.

"No you fool!" I yelled even though he could not hear me. An incredible psychic power rushed over me, forcing me to the ground. Alma's power… It was so incredible. Anger, hate, and fear cascaded over me, infesting my mind and my heart. I pulled myself back up to the window, all of my wounds reopening from the sheer psychic power. Blood trickled off of my temple, my shoulder, my forearm, and my shoulder.

Harlan was smiling.

"Alma." He said lovingly, as black hair appeared in the right of the window.

This was not the Alma I had encountered before.

She was completely nude, black hair cascading over her body. Her skin was stretched tightly over her frame, revealing all of her bones. She moved slowly, extending her arm as Harlan Wade's flesh disintegrated.

He didn't cry out, instead falling to his knees as his body liquefied, he kept that smile on his face.

His body exploded, splattering blood on the window and obscuring my vision. But I wasn't worried about that.

Alma was free.

I took a deep breath, trying to decide what to do next. Usually Betters would help me out in a situation like this, but in this incredibly potent psychic area, my radio was useless.

_What are you doing? _I tried to communicate with her psychically. _What do you want?_

Silence. She made no response.

The door was still locked, and the safety glass would prevent my pistol from breaking it open. I found it hard to think with Alma's psychic power crushing my own puny amount.

It was like a match in the middle of a dark cave.

Suddenly, a light bulb clicked on in my head. Psychic power? Couldn't I use that to open the door? Surely I had some type of telekinesis…

I held my palm open in front of the door, thinking incredibly hard.

_Open. Open._

I felt it. My psychic power began radiating out of my body, and I directed it at the door. Rather than the door sliding open simply, it flew off its hinges, taking a few chunks of the wall with it as it flew across the room, smashing into the wall on the other side with a large bang.

Well. At least the door was open.

I moved through the room, gingerly stepping over the skeleton that was once Harlan Wade and rounding the corner, entering an L shaped hallway. I traveled through the door directly in front of me and stepped through it, entering a large lab area.

Alma vanished around the corner ahead of me just as I entered the room, I glanced down to see bloody footsteps moving along the path that she had walked.

I guess I had another way to follow her, besides tracing her crushing psychic power. I walked, aware that with every step I took, blood ran out of my open wounds.

I was sweating profusely; every step in this crushing psychic atmosphere was torture. I had to force my limbs to work, breathing in ragged gasps as I walked. The lab I was in was slightly dark, and I stepped over several pieces of shattered glass.

Alma's power must be shattering the bulbs as she walked.

Christ I missed my flashlight.

I walked past a pair of exam tables, approaching the far wall. But as I approached, something happened. The walls began distorting in front of my very eyes, black holes being torn in reality.

Several of those Nightmares flew at me, their upper torsos glowing instead of being dark this time. I fired my pistol at them, causing the Nightmares to disappear like smoke on the wind. The distortion ceased, as I ejected the spent magazine from my pistol and slapped a new one in. I drew back the slide, chambering a .45 round and continued along the hallway.

Was Alma really so powerful that she could bring those Nightmares into reality? It was incredible…

But Fettel said that the reason she was trying to kill me was because she couldn't see into my mind due to the psychic barriers installed by Armacham and didn't know I was her son… Now that I had broken through those barriers wouldn't she stop attacking me?

I shook my head, continuing to move along. Even if she were my mother, I would have to deal with her if she tried to hurt anyone.

But part of me prayed that I would never have to do that.

The facility was eerily silent as I moved down the hallways. The bloody footprints were gone, leaving me only one way to follow her. Tracing her psychic power.

It wasn't hard, even for someone so inexperienced as me. Alma's power was so intense it was like she was leaving a trail of breadcrumbs behind her. Although I had unlocked my psychic powers, the memory wipe that Armacham had performed on me was still in effect, leaving my memory completely empty up until the moment I joined up with F.E.A.R. Was my squad in on it? Did Betters, Jin, and Jankowski know about me?

How did they trust me if they did?

My thoughts were interrupted by another series of distortions appearing in front of me, as if something was ripping a hole between reality and nightmares.

More Nightmares attacked me, slicing up my body armor as I couldn't deal with them all at once. My armor was cut up, blood running down my body in streams as I continued to breath heavily. My cracked rib continued to cause problems for me breathing, but it was nothing compared to the numerous lacerations across my torso.

I moved onwards, slowly, blood dribbling off of me with every step I took.

I stepped through a doorway into a room completely lit by a blue light.

"The reactor room." I said softly, blood continuing to run off my body. I slowly walked around the pathway, since the reactor was sunk into the ground and humming away. There was a small computer panel on the railing, and I staggered to it. I typed in a few commands, lifting the four pylons out of the reactor.

I focused my psychic power, trying to blow the pylons apart and set the reactor on a path towards meltdown.

Nothing. Between my injuries and Alma's psychic presence crushing my own, I was coming up dry.

Guess I had to do things the old fashioned way.

I fired my pistol, emptying my last magazine into each of the pylons. Instantly, the entire facility shuddered and I was plunged into total darkness as the reactor stopped humming. I panicked slightly, before the red emergency lights activated and a warning klaxon began blaring.

"Warning. Reactor critical. Please follow emergency procedures and evacuate to a safe distance as soon as possible." The cool female computer told me. I left the room, following the yellow emergency lights towards the exit. The corridors were in complete darkness, but the yellow lights every few feet illuminated the area enough for me to see.

But Alma's presence was somewhere ahead of me. And that slightly worried me.

I moved along the escape path, reaching a raised platform hanging above an endless pit, so it seemed.

The air distorted around me again, revealing Nightmares lunging at me for my throat. I tried to dodge a few of them, and succeeded until one slashed my leg.

I fell to the ground with a cry of pain, staring at the blood gushing out of my leg. All of the wounds on my torso were mostly superficial, like paper cuts, except for my shoulder wound and my cracked rib, but this slash was pretty deep.

I threw my pistol at the Nightmares, dissipating two. However, several continued to fly at me at high speeds, intent on ending my life.

Not today.

I lifted my hand, palm facing my enemies, and sent a whirlwind of psychic energy at the Nightmares, causing them all to disappear.

I got to my feet and continued limping along the path I was on, following Alma's path. I saw her, once, just ahead of me going around a corner. The air around her seemed to distort and ripple just due to the immense psychic power she was radiating. I followed her, intent on stopping her.

But I was too late; she had already traveled up an elevator shaft back into the Project Origin facility, somehow. I hopped up onto the lift and pressed up, allowing the lift to rise to the surface slowly. As I glanced down, back into the Vault, I saw explosions begin to rock the facility.

The lift took me to another bridge above another endless pit, which I limped across, leaving a trail of blood behind me. The door directly across the bridge was a lift that would take me to the surface, thankfully. I stepped inside and slammed the up button, smearing the small square with blood. I glanced through the doors, seeing the air being distorted and ripped apart as Nightmares attempted to attack me.

Luckily, the doors closed, and the lift moved upwards rapidly. Blood ran off every inch of my body, and I tried to push my body armor back together, as the numerous gaps in it left me rather unprotected.

I glanced up the elevator shaft, following Alma's psychic trail. She was up there. I had to stop her from reaching the surface.

I had to stop…

… My mother.

…

**A/N: This Chapter was my favorite to write, especially the dialogue between Fettel and the Point Man. **

**No updates this weekend. I'm playing in a basketball tournament across the state. **

**If you're wondering why this isn't Chapter 13, I combined 3a and 3b, making that chapter the longest with 7,000 words. So we're now behind a Chapter. Sorry for the confusion.  
**

**I'm only going to respond to Reviews that offer critiques or strong comments now instead of wasting your time by responding to praise.**

**Interval 11 next. The last one before F.E.A.R. is over and we move onto Project Origin.**


	13. FEAR Interval 11 : Retaliation

**F.E.A.R.**

**Interval 11**

**Retaliation**

SITUATION:

Alma has been freed and is moving towards the surface.

The facility's main reactor has gone critical. A chain reaction is imminent.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. operative should attempt to get as far from the facility as possible.

---

The elevator traveled to the surface painfully slow, as I was standing uncomfortably with blood trickling off my body, attempting to keep as little pressure off of my injured leg as possible. Eventually, a trapdoor opened overhead, and the platform I was standing on arrived back in the Rammelmeier compound. My radio crackled softly in my ear.

"He's alive!" Betters yelled, and I tried to respond but he made no hint that I did so. The psychic energy in the Vault must've fried my microphone. "I just picked up his signal! If you can hear me, get to high ground. A chopper is standing by!"

I limped off the platform, into a rundown room with an outstanding amount of high tech computer equipment around and moved forward, tracking Alma's psychic presence. The wall was slightly ajar, strangely, in this room, revealing that it is probably an emergency exit room hidden behind the wall.

I limped back out into the warehouse, leaving drops of blood behind me like a hellish version of Hansel and Gretel. As I left through the wall, the elevator behind me exploded in a blinding light, causing me to continue forward hurriedly. I didn't want this place to go up while I was inside it now, did I?

A workbench next to me had a simple Beretta 9mm pistol sitting on its surface, and I snatched up the gun quickly, rummaging through the desks for extra magazines. I found two, pocketing them in my shredded Kevlar. A metal set of stairs was in front of me, and I hurried up them, breathing heavily through my cracked rib and numerous other injuries. As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, the doorway to my right exploded with such force that it blew the door off its hinges. Fire licked the air as it emerged from the door, so I went left instead, heading down another industrial hallway.

How many fucking hallways had I seen tonight?

I lost count, and I was too tired to think about it anymore.

The building shook slightly, and plaster dropped from the roof as a pipe before me exploded in a jet of frame, blocking the way ahead. I vaulted over the handrail on my left into a slight pit, taking care not to land too hard on my injured leg. Stairs leading back up to the path, on the other side of the jet of fire, were less than four feet away from me, so I climbed them. I stepped into a T intersection, and as I glanced right I saw something that made me curse my bad luck.

Reality was being distorted again.

I raised my pistol to shoulder level, stepping back into the classic Weaver stance and waited for the Nightmares to emerge. They did, as predicted, and I dealt with them quickly, my pistol illuminating the hallway with a short bark. Spots danced in front of my eyes, but I continued moving, entering a room with numerous wooden boxes placed all about. More Nightmares assaulted me, and the terrifying thing was they were no longer blurry and hard to make out.

These Nightmares were very clear. Not only that but they were getting faster as well. Was Alma getting more powerful? Her psychic energy remained the same, from what I could tell, but it was possible.

As I left that room, hobbling along, I approached a set of metal double doors, they were thrown open, dented inwards, and a pair of Nightmares lunged towards me. I tried dealing with them psychically but couldn't and I paid the price for it. One of the Nightmares slashed my right bicep, tearing open the skin and causing blood to cascade onto the ground, while the other one slashed at my head, and I leaned backwards just in time to avoid being lobotomized. Blood ran down the small claw wounds in my forehead into my eyes, and I wiped the blood away with one hand, staining my glove even redder.

Now I was slowly becoming aware that I was losing a lot of blood rather quickly. This could end badly if I didn't deal with it now, even if it was a temporary situation. I dropped the shredded vest on the ground, pretty sure that I wouldn't need it anymore. I pulled my slashed up all-purpose gear off, which was an Under Armor-like material, and tied it tightly around my bicep, cutting off the blood flow there. I then pulled off my wife beater, now stained red, and tied it around the cut on my leg.

Mission complete. Now I was shirtless in an about-to-explode warehouse with a number of fucking psychic monsters floating around. Superb. I ran my fingers over the barcode tattoo on my left pectoral, right above my heart.

_How long have I had this?_

I shook my head, my long black hair, clumped together with sweat, grease, and blood, swaying slightly. Time to keep moving. I climbed some decaying stairs, feeling Alma's psychic presence grow stronger. I was getting close. I crossed through a boiler room, which had the seal pop off and emit steam as I passed it, and walked onto a catwalk overlooking a wide-open area. A trap door was covered by a series of 2x4s in the corner of the room. Pillars broke up the openness at specific intervals, while dirty windows at the tops of the walls let the light from the sunrise in.

Alma was there.

She was leaving the room just as I was entering it, and although her back was to me, I was almost crushed by the amount of psychic energy that flowed around her. All of those negative emotions rushed into my head again. Her black hair hung loosely over her naked body, covering up most of her ass and running freely down her back.

"Wait!" I yelled, but she made no response that she heard me and continued walking. I hopped off the balcony, landing hard on the ground and I felt my injured leg buckle beneath me. I took in a hissed breath, pulling myself to my feet. "Alma, wait!"

This time I know she heard me, because she paused for a second, before continuing to walk. The doors she walked through slammed shut, and reality distorted throughout the room.

"Oh no." I said, as Nightmares flew at me from every possible space in the room. I was doomed. There was no way I could deal with this many. I squeezed my eyes tight and awaited my eventual demise.

_No._

My eyes opened, and although I couldn't see them I knew they were glowing yellow. Again, I didn't know how I was doing this but I was somehow, I released my psychic energy into a wave, sending telekinetic energy throughout the room and destroying the Nightmares. The wooden 2x4s covering the trap door were also torn up by my psychic power. I felt Alma pause ahead of me, as if unsure of what to do.

I crossed to the doors, finding them held together by a powerful psychic bond, one that I couldn't break. So, instead, I jumped down the trap door into a dark underground tunnel. Alma was coming back now, slinking back down the hallway towards me. I moved down the underground hallway towards her, shooting the few Nightmares that materialized before me, before pausing in a dark area that was only lit by a few bulbs near the floor.

She was directly above me now, stopped just as I was.

Fettel said I had been invading her mind all night. Perhaps I could do it again. I reached out psychically, actually aware that I was doing it this time, and searched for Alma. I found her easily, since her psychic energy is so immense, and I reached out and touched it with my mind.

Flash.

The hospital corridor was dark and

_I tried to forget._

flaming this time, casting strange patterns of light on the sterile walls. I moved to a set of double doors in front of me, pushing them open

_I tried so hard to forget._

and arriving in the lobby. That was Fettel's voice just now, echoing in Alma's head. As I stepped into the lobby, the glass windows in the doors shattered and the naked version of Alma stalked towards me.

She opened her arms towards me, as if she were trying to give me a hug.

But something was wrong.

I felt like I was getting sucked into her and the closer she got, the stronger the feeling was. I backed away, feeling the heavy weight of the Beretta in my hand. Unintelligible whispers filled my head, all of them telling me to accept the embrace. To become one

_Don't._

with her. I took a step back, shaking my head as Alma continued towards me.

_Shoot her._

Fettel's voice in my head…? What the hell? Regardless, I took his advice, causing Alma to disappear in a bright light. I moved through the room, dancing around the fires, and opened the doors into the hallway that was so goddamn familiar by now.

She appeared again, and I resisted her again, causing her to disappear in another bright flash. The blood she spilled from the gunshots was floating in the air. I pushed the featureless steel doors behind her open, zooming forward into the hallway with the bloody gurney.

The doctor in the murky windows was there, carrying something out of sight again.

_You were born here. In this place._

I moved forward, listening to Fettel speak in my head again. I approached the doors, resting my hand on the handle tentatively. Would I want to see what was on the other side of these doors? These doors that had haunted my hallucinations all night? I slowly twisted the knob, opening the doors.

… _I was there._

The door slammed shut as it was halfway open, and the window was covered in blood as the doctor exploded. The doors behind me were thrown open, and Alma stalked towards me again. I emptied the rest of my Beretta into her, causing her to disappear once more.

She suddenly appeared extremely close to me, staring me dead in the eyes. I fell to my knees, overwhelmed by the psychic pressure. I felt Alma invade my head, and tried to repel her. But she was too strong. I waited there, waited for her to kill me, tears running down my face in spite of myself.

But she didn't.

Instead, she took a staggering step backwards, clutching her head in agony before disappearing.

I still crouched on the ground, staring at the tile before seeing a small pair of bloodstained feet enter my vision. I lifted my eyes to meet with those of young Alma, who had tears running down her pale face as well.

"My baby…" She whispered.

_Give him back to me._

Flash.

I was lying in a blanket now, staring up at a bright light. The light was obstructed by something, and my eyes had trouble focusing. But I saw who it was soon.

Harlan Wade.

He lifted me in his arms, clutching me close.

"Give me back my baby!!" A female voice screamed. Harlan looked at me through his glasses, smiling slightly.

"You will be a God among men." He told me proudly, holding me close. He lifted his head and looked at something beyond my vision.

"Take her back to the Vault." He said calmly, carrying me away.

"Nooooooooo!!" Came a female scream, and I turned my head in time to see a teenage Alma in a hospital ground, leaning up on the bed reaching towards me in vain while a pair of men wearing scrubs held her down. I reached my tiny arm

_My tiny baby arm. _

out towards her as well.

_Mommy._

My eyes fell on a folder on a desk, stamped Classified.

Project: Origin.

Subject:

Alma Wade.

Flash.

I was back in the underground hallway. Alma's psychic presence was no longer above me, but far beyond my reach. I knew I had to stop her, I knew I had to keep moving or else the facility would explode and take me with it, but I couldn't.

I fell to my knees and cried.

It all made sense know. What I had been seeing this whole night, the nightmare that Alma could never awaken from.

It was me being taken from her as a baby, by her own damn father. The monster that locked her up in the Vault time and time again. The damn monster…

He was my grandfather.

I didn't have a first name, but I now have a last. Wade.

_My baby._ It was little Alma whispering in my head. _I know who you are now, but I can't keep you safe from her much longer._

I sobbed again, constantly being reminded of the broken rib as I did so.

_From her? _

_There's no time to waste. Run!_

I did as I was bid, dropping the empty Beretta and hobbled down the dark tunnel as quick as my injured leg would allow without a second guess. I thought I had all of the mysteries solved, but here was a new one. Who was the she Alma was referring to? Could little Alma and naked Alma be two different people?

But my mother was right; there was no time to waste thinking. I could think once I escaped. I threw open the double doors at the end of the hall, staggering across the wrecked tool room into a rusty old elevator on the other side. I stepped inside, hammering the up button. The doors slid closed and the lift went up, stopping short after. I walked out; aware that I was at street level now, and crossed the room I was in.

The window in front of me was shattered, and I climbed through it, arriving on the streets of the Auburn district as the sun rose. The city was quiet, but I could hear the thoughts of the several thousand people who were about in my head, they were no longer muted by the psychic barrier in the Vault. I hobbled down the street, searching the sky for the chopper.

Alma's psychic presence was far away now, up in a tower of some sort. I could feel her tracking me as well. I would deal with her later.

Suddenly, the ground fissured ahead of me, and electricity leapt through the air. The ground shook immensely as I almost fell to the ground.

The sky lit up, blinding me for a second, as a deafening boom assaulted my eardrums. As my vision cleared, I saw a wall of dust and debris hurtling towards me at high speed as a very close explosion dominated the skyline. I hobbled backwards, back towards the window, as the wall of destruction swallowed the warehouses nearby. I couldn't move fast enough, and I was finally caught up in the wall, yelling as I was lifted off my feet and thrown backwards.

I smashed my head on something and my vision swam and I lost consciousness.

* * *

I slowly came to, aware of two sounds: my own thunderous heartbeat, and the swooshing blades of a helicopter. I opened my eyes, aware that the world was extremely blurry for a moment, and waited for it to clear. As I was waking up, I was aware that an incredible amount of voices were now in my head, and there was one emotion I felt incredibly strongly.

Fear.

"There he is!" I heard Jin's voice in my head as the helicopter lowered slowly to the ground. I glanced around me. Somehow I wasn't injured. A variety of debris was circled around me.

It was as if someone had protected my psychically.

I smirked slightly, as the helicopter landed a few feet away from me. Holiday and Jin ran up to me, covered in soot, smiling widely. I tried to return the smile but lost consciousness.

* * *

I woke up staring at the ceiling of the helicopter, and sat up. Holiday was seated on the bench, looking out the open door while Jin was on the ground doing the same. Passalaqua was lying on the ground next to me, unconscious as well. I became aware that Jin had been nice enough to treat and dress my numerous wounds and supply me with a black shirt with F.E.A.R. stamped on it. Holiday glanced at me.

"I don't know how you survived that." And I saw what he meant now.

A mushroom cloud hung over the city, blocking out the sun. The numerous voices in my head were all talking about that or the explosion, or both and how to get the hell out of Dodge.

"We still don't know the extent of the damage." Holiday continued, holding up his radio. "We were too close to the blast, the explosion fried our radios."

I nodded, trying to find Betters in the sea of people. Jin turned to look at me.

"What about Alma? What happened to her?" She asked, looking me in the eyes, I averted them, not wanting her to see my eyes glowing yellow when I used my psychic powers.

"She's out there, somewhere." I said softly before giving up trying to find Betters. He was still alive, I could feel that much.

"How is that possible?" Holiday asked. "I thought she was dead."

"I'm not sure myself. In fact, I don't know a lot about most of the shit that happened tonight." I said, shrugging. "All I know is that I have to find her and stop her."

"Why you?" Jin asked, worriedly. I made eye contact with her again.

"Because…" I started, before I invaded her mind.

_I'm the only one who can._

I sent my thought into both Holiday and Jin's minds, and they both jumped in shock from my voice in their heads as well as my glowing eyes. Holiday groped for his pistol, but Jin put a hand on his wrist, stopping him.

"I don't even want to fucking know, buddy. But if you go all Fettel on us I'll have to take you out." Holiday said, and I nodded, sealing our deal.

Suddenly, the helicopter rocked, and the interior lights went out.

"What the hell was that?" Jin asked, her voice full of terror. Fear was radiating off her in waves.

I was instantly almost crushed by a powerful psychic pressure.

A long, bony arm reached into the helicopter, grabbing the metal inside before pulling the rest of the body up. Black hair assaulted my vision, and a pair of yellow eyes sought mine.

"It's her…"

* * *

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The elderly gentleman answered his phone as he and his wife were being evacuated.

"Senator." Genevieve Aristide spoke on the other line. "I just wanted to tell you that the Origin situation has been resolved."

"Yes, but so much for discretion." The Senator said softly, not wanting other people to overhear his conversation.

"It was unavoidable. There is some good news, however." She said confidently. He perked up to listen.

"The first prototype was a complete success."

...

**A/N: Well people, this has been a long, fun road but F.E.A.R. is completely done. Hooray me! Anywho, now we're onto Project Origin solely now, where many of your questions will be answered.**

**Anyway, like always, reviews are always welcome! Stick around to see what shenanigans Alma will get into next time!  
**


	14. PO Interval 02 : Isolation

**Project Origin**

**Interval 02**

**Isolation**

SITUATION:

A catastrophic explosion seems to have destroyed the Auburn industrial district of Fairport. The exact extent of the damage is impossible to estimate.

Team Dark Signal has been taken off-site by an unknown third party.

MISSION:

Dark Signal operative will attempt to regroup with team.

---

His head ached. Scratch that, his entire body ached. Something had to be broken.

With a groan, Michael Becket sat up in the hospital bed he was in, rubbing his head. What the hell happened? The last thing he remembered was talking to Aristide and then somehow he ended up in her living room, just in time to see a giant explosion, not unlike a nuclear one, rock the city. After that he blacked out.

Now he appeared to be in a hospital, glancing around the sterile room. He was alone. The nurse call light button was on, however, allowing him to call whoever was on duty there. Becket tore the wires running to both the IV and the heart rate monitor out of his body and unsteadily got to his feet. He was still dressed in his combat gear and his KERNAL system sat on the table next to the bed. Sadly, his weapons were nowhere to be seen.

"Who's… There…?" Came a quiet voice from the doorway. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was struggling with words, hissing them softly. Becket lifted his head, expecting to see a nurse.

Instead he saw a naked woman, her black hair obstructing most of her body including her face. She stepped out of sight and Becket shook his head. Probably another patient of some type. He grabbed the high tech shooters glasses off the table, replacing them on his head.

INITIALIZING KERNEL..........

KERNEL LOADED.

READY.

----------

----------

SYSTEM CHECK.... OK

WEAPON LINK.... OK

HEART MONITOR.... OK

ARMOR MONITOR.... OK

"Does anyone read me, over? I'm getting a lot of interference." Becket's heart leapt. Stokes! The message was cluttered with static, but he could still hear her.

"I'm here." Becket said, taking a step forward. So far, so good. He could walk fine.

"Stokes! Becket! Thank God!" Came the voice of Top over the radio. "Where are you guys?"

"I'm in some type of hospital room." Becket said, taking in his surroundings.

"Same. I'm currently looking for an exit. But half the doors in this goddamn place are barricaded. No sign of any staff or other patients either." Stokes reported, and Becket felt a slight chill.

"What about the others?" Top asked.

"I've got a faint read on you and Becket. No trace of anybody else." The lieutenant reported. Becket left the room and stepped out into the hallway.

"Roger that. Becket. Stokes. Search for a way to regroup. I'll meet ya'll ahead sometime." The Dark Signal commander said. Both operatives confirmed their objective, and then Becket glanced down the hallway.

The patient was at the other end, standing there, watching him. She vanished around the corner again, and Becket followed her. She could be the only answer to what was going on. He entered a lobby area, which was slightly torn up. Papers lay scattered around the desk, and there was no one to be seen. A television mounted on the wall was on; the anchor on the news program looked disheveled and tired.

"... for viewers just tuning in, what you're seeing here is a very disturbing live shot. We have unconfirmed reports of a massive explosion in the Auburn industrial district. The cause of the explosion is still unknown. CFNBC is now just getting information on this story. We're calling in all our sources to try to figure out what's going on. The initial reports are that something devastating has happened and we are working hard to provide you with the information we have. At this point, we do not know the official injury report or the cause of the explosion. We'll let you know as soon as we find out what's happened."

Becket threw open the double doors in front of him, entering another hallway. A gurney sat halfway down the hall, and the light overhead was flickering slightly.

_Where… Are… You…?_

A hissing voice that was in his head… But it wasn't his own voice. Becket jumped and looked around, attempting to see whoever was talking. The light flashed, plunging the hallway into total darkness and then lighting it back up. As he turned his attention back down the hallway, the light flashed again.

The patient was standing there.

The light flashed once more and she was gone. Becket felt terror prickling his skin. Shit, he was terrified at what he had just seen. He moved forward, tentatively, jogging down the hallway to make sure he avoided any other potential scares.

A ceiling panel fell, landing in a small puddle of blood leaking out from underneath a door. Becket pushed the door open, walking through the puddle. Something very bad was going on in this hospital. A trail of blood confirmed his fears, and he followed the dribbles of blood throughout the winding hallways.

As Becket entered a large lobby area, sunlight streaming through the three large skylights on the roof, his attention was drawn to yet another blood puddle on the ground. As he approached it, completely aware that more blood dripped from the balcony above, creating ripples in the blood, something made him jump again.

The bloody body of an orderly, still dressed in his scrubs, fell down from above, landing in a twisted heap on the ground. Becket took a step back, disgusted, and skirted around the body as he moved up the stairs. He didn't need to be a doctor to know that the guy was dead. He skirted around the corpse, climbing up the stairs and noticed something right away.

The door to the women's rest room was covered in blood. Curious, Becket pushed the door open, into the dark bathroom. The stall at the end of the row was slightly ajar, adding to his intrigue. He moved forward, activating the flashlight on the side of his KERNAL system, creating a small ring of light wherever he looked. He approached the final stall, glancing around the bathroom as he did so.

A nurse sat on the toilet, but this didn't cause Becket to apologize profusely and back away. No, she didn't care that he was there.

Her throat was slit, blood cascading down her purple scrubs onto the floor. Blood from her cut artery had sprayed on the entire stall, covering it with tracks of blood that oozed slowly to the ground, where an already impressive puddle of blood sat.

Who would do this? Becket thought, glancing around for clues. He instantly noticed something in her left hand.

A bloody knife. She had cut her own throat.

Becket took a step back, shaken. What would lead a woman to slice her own throat like that? It didn't make sense. He was about to turn to leave the disgusting room, when he noticed something. It was a message on the stall wall, written in blood.

"Alma." Becket read, feeling the hair on his arms stand up. If he remembered correctly, Alma was the name of that girl in the red dress, why would she write it here?

And, furthermore, why would it cause this nurse to take her own life in such a violent matter?

With many questions, and no answers, Becket turned to leave the macabre scene, striding through the bathroom with his head down. He lifted it when he approached the sinks, looking at the door.

She was standing there in the doorframe. Watching him through the strands of her long black hair.

With a sound like nails grating on a chalkboard, the patient disappeared, leaving the air distorted as she left. Becket hurriedly left the dark bathroom, attempting to get his heart rate back into a normal zone. The sunshine pouring in through the windows gave him some hope, and after a minute of getting his nerves back under control, he continued on his mission to find Stokes and Top.

Becket was now starting to have serious thoughts that this naked woman he continued to encounter was not a patient. She showed up in terrifying ways, and she always was watching him intently, quietly.

Not to mention he just saw her fucking teleport.

Becket was wandering down another hallway when something slammed against the safety glass next to him, causing his poor heart to start hammering away again. It was another nurse, but this one was screaming in agony as bullets tore into her, creating spider web cracks in the window. Becket was too stunned to move, so he didn't do anything when a single ATC commando approached the window, glancing at him before saying something in his radio that was muted by the glass. He smiled at Becket wickedly before moving on.

Becket did the same, approaching a set of barricaded doors at the end of the hall. As he was a few steps away, the doors cracked open and Becket could make out an ATC commando in the crack.

"Shit!" He swore, finding out that the doors were barricaded. "You! Stay where you are!"

Becket did no such thing, taking off through an open doorway on his left, entering a small laboratory area. None other than Genevieve Aristide stood on the other side of the safety glass. She jumped visibly when Becket appeared before hustling to an intercom.

"Sergeant Becket! Thank God you're okay! I'm sure you have a lot of questions. I'll explain everything later. Right now we have to get you to the T.A.C. lab." She said quickly, not allowing Becket to get a word in. He lifted his hand slowly.

"Uh." Aristide looked quickly over her shoulder before she continued.

"Hurry! And be careful! Vanek's men are attacking the facility. I can't believe he'd go to this extreme to cover up evidence..." And with that, she hurried out of Becket's sight. He lowered his arm. T.A.C. lab. Right.

Where the hell was that?

Becket grumbled as he tore a plastic fire map off of the wall, glancing around the small diagram.

The T.A.C. lab was apparently on the third floor, whereas he was only on the first.

Why were they going away from the exit?

Becket shook his head and left the labs, entering an office area. Suddenly, a static-filled image appeared in the lower-left of his KERNAL system.

"Careful, Sergeant Becket. You're about to stumble into an ambush." It was a male voice that Becket had never heard before.

"This is a secure channel! Identify yourself!" Stokes demanded, but the mystery caller was silent. Becket glanced around a corner, and the man was right. A pair of ATC commandos was in the office directly ahead of him. One was torching the files in the room with a flamethrower while the other alternated between watching his partner and glancing at the hallway.

"He must be watching us through the security cameras." Becket suggested, glancing up at one of said cameras that was pointed at him. Becket moved like a snake, sliding around the corner and stealthily approaching the ATC who had his back turned. He reached his hands around the torso of the soldier, grabbing his SMG and firing several rounds into the tank on the back of the soldier who had the flamethrower. The soldier exploded in a shower of meat, and next Becket grabbed the head of the soldier, twisting it sharply and snapping the ATC's neck. He fell to the ground, his head limply bobbing.

"Very well done. I see why they picked you." The mysterious caller was back as Becket pushed his head through the sling of the Andra-99 SMG. He slid the extra magazines the ATC had into his own vest, glancing up at the security camera.

"Who the hell are you?" Stokes demanded, and Becket silently thanked her for looking out for him.

"You can call me…" He trailed off, thinking of something. "Snake Fist."

Becket snorted with laughter. The codename of the invincible government agent Charles "Chuck" Kilgore in the Hollywood movies? Please.

"Snake Fist…" Stokes said with false reverence before snapping him back to reality harshly. "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Hey, hey!" Snake Fist said now, getting defensive. "I don't know who else is listening and I'm not taking any chances. You guys need to get out of there."

"That's kind of the plan." Becket said. But both Stokes and Snake Fist were quiet. Becket left the hallway, approaching, according to his handy plastic map, the morgue. He heard labored breathing and grunts coming from around the corner, so Becket slammed his back against the wall, peeking around the corner slowly.

A doctor was on his knees, frantically trying to revive another doctor who had already bled out, from what Becket could see. As he was pushing on the chest of his dead comrade, the double doors beside him were thrown open, and a single ATC soldier walked out. The doctor got to his feet, stepping backwards with his hands up.

"Wait! Wait! Just give me a second! I know nothing, honest!" He pleaded, but the ATC didn't believe him or just didn't care. He unleashed a stream of bullets that tore into the doctor, rocking his body and splattering the wall behind him with blood. Becket pulled back into cover, closing his eyes tight and exhaling the breath he didn't know he was holding.

What did Armacham want to hide so much that they were killing innocent people over? Becket shook his head as his KERNAL lit up again.

"I think I'm getting close to the lobby." Top said, his voice heavily garbled by static. "But there's some kind of activity… I'm gonna check it out."

Top's transmission exploded into static.

"Say again, over." Stokes said, her voice weak amongst the static riddling the conversation. "Do you copy? Becket? Top? Shit…"

His KERNAL system stopped receiving altogether, cutting off the last words of Stokes. The soft white noise of static filled Becket's ears, and the soft noise was a constant reminder that he was alone. Becket moved through the doors, entering the final hallway before the morgue. A lone ATC commando was in the hallway, and Becket dispatched him quite easily and quickly.

A large bloodstain dominated the floor of the morgue, which was to be expected. Except for the fact that the blood was fresh.

_Are… You… There…?_

It was that voice again, the hissing female voice in his head. Becket lifted his head, looking for the source of the voice.

He saw her, the sick patient woman, rounding the corner in front of him. He wanted to run. He wanted to get as far in the opposite direction as quickly as he could. But for some reason… Sergeant Michael David Becket found himself drawn towards the woman. He followed her around the corner, blissfully aware that she was whispering unintelligible words in his mind.

As he rounded the corner that she disappeared around before, he saw her again. She was examining a body bag,

_Where… Is… He…? _

It was her. It must've been her, sending the thoughts into his head. Her voice was raspy, hoarse, and it was as if she was unused to forming words. She was searching the black bag frantically, tearing it open because she couldn't find, or knew how to use, the zipper. When she was dissatisfied with what was inside the bag, somehow she opened another drawer and attacked the next bag frantically.

Becket finally got a good look at her. Her long black hair hung loosely from her head in strands, covering up most of her nude body, the skin stretched much too tight over the body. Muscle was non-existent on the woman, with bone showing through her pale, if not white, skin. Becket realized something with a start.

This was the creature he saw when he fell in the pool.

_I know… You're… There…_

She continually sent thoughts out in the world, like a twisted sonar. And her frequent attacks on the body bags led him to believe that she was searching for something.

Or someone.

Suddenly, she threw her head back and screamed, before disappearing with that strange grating sound. Reality distorted where she teleported, and the force of her leaving threw all of the drawers in the morgue open, revealing the black body bags.

Becket stood there in shock that whole time, watching the woman. She was completely oblivious to his presence, simply searching the bags. He felt a pang of jealousy. Why wouldn't she look for him?

Becket shook his head, suddenly confused. He didn't remember how he ended up in the morgue. He moved through the single path available amongst the body bags and open drawers in the morgue, entering an elevator that was propped open by a gurney. Becket kicked the gurney away, pressing the button for the third floor as the doors slid closed, the elevator taking off smoothly.

"This is Fox. Can anybody read me?" Came a garbled transmission over the KERNAL system.

"Fox. Where are you?" Becket asked. He heard Fox breath a sigh of relief.

"Becket. Thank God. I thought I was alone. I just woke up in a hospital room." The veteran said, but before Becket could respond he continued. "Wait. I hear somebody crying... Sounds like a woman. I'm gonna check it out."

"Be careful, Fox." Becket said, as the elevator slowed to a stop. Becket walked outside of the box, maneuvering through the dark hallways until he reached a large open area. Safety glass dominated the wall in front of him, and there was a small airlock in the wall as well.

"Becket! Over here!" Stokes called over his radio, and Becket saw her through the glass, smiling widely. Her hair was slightly disheveled, but other than that she looked similar to how she did when they left the APC at Aristide's penthouse. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"Come on, we don't have much time! Into the chamber, hurry!" Aristide asked, the 40-year old woman walking into Becket's line of sight before stopping behind a computer. Stokes joined her as the door to the small airlock slid open with a whoosh. Becket walked inside of the small cylinder, glancing around nervously.

"Are you sure this isn't going to sterilize him or something, doc?" Stokes asked, glancing at Becket.

"That would be the least of my concerns." Aristide responded in a curt tone. She looked up at Becket. "Sergeant Becket, stand still. This won't take long."

Becket tried to stay as still as he could, as the glass door behind him slid shut and a metal ring began spinning rapidly, running up and down the tank. A group of lights lit up in front of him, arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Becket felt part of his mind being drawn towards the lights. It felt like it was being stimulated, woken up. Suddenly, Becket felt something.

Surprise.

And he wasn't the one feeling the emotion.

_God I hope this works. Whatever it is she's doing._ That was Stokes. In his head.

What the hell?

Becket heard it before he saw it, so the door on the wall in front of him exploding and watching a group of ATC commandos pour out of the doorway didn't surprise him as much as it should have.

"Get down!" Stokes yelled, pulling Aristide to the ground as the computer the CEO was standing behind was shredded by automatic fire. Becket tried to get out of the chamber he was stuck in, but the door was magnetically locked behind him. Stokes popped out of cover from time to time, exchanging gunfire with the ATC commandos. "We have to move!"

Aristide, cowering in fear on the ground, shook her head. Strange patterns of blue electricity began running along the outside of the chamber Becket was trapped in.

"We can't leave him! Not now!" Aristide yelled back over the crescendo of gunfire.

"We don't have any choice!" Stokes yelled back, shooting and killing a commando that attempted to open the door into the control room. "Get out of there Becket! Go back the way you came and we'll see if we can find a way around! Shit!"

Stokes was pushed out of her cover by the vast amount of gunfire that was being thrown at the two women. She grabbed Aristide by the elbow and the two hustled out of Becket's line of sight. As the ATC commandos made their way towards Becket, he felt something he had never felt before.

It was a vast amount of pressure, as if gravity had just increased tenfold. Becket collapsed down in the chamber he was trapped in, glancing up at the doorway the ATC soldiers had entered through, the world taking on a sepia tint.

Something was moving there. The air, it was rippling, as if something was forcing its way into the world. Suddenly, a black tentacle ripped out of the air. The soldiers panicked, firing wildly at the tentacle, which grabbed the nearest soldier, liquefying him and spraying his blood all over the place. It snatched up another, doing the same thing. Becket shut his eyes tightly, wishing he could shut his ears to the dreadful screams he heard.

When he opened them, he was no longer trapped in that glass tube. Instead, he was in that meadow again. The tree was just in front of him, like before, although there was something new this time.

Something was faded in the background. It was a large, concrete structure, one that Becket couldn't put his finger on at the time. He approached the tree, staring at the back of the little girl in the red dress, who was swinging back and forth without a care in the world.

"Alma." Becket said, running a hand through his spiky hair. She stopped swinging with a gasp, turning and looking at him.

"You… You shouldn't be here!" She gasped, getting of the swing and pointing at him. Becket lifted his hands, showing he wasn't going to hurt her. She took a step backwards with every step he took towards her. "No! Go away! You need to run! Run as far as you can!"

"What are you talking about?" He asked, confused. Alma shook her head, her raven locks swishing back and forth.

"You can't hide! She'll find you! I can't hold her off much longer!"

Becket tried to respond to her hysterical warning, but as he did so the world around him began to fade. Becket found himself back in the TAC test chamber, staring a man in the eye. He was smiling slightly beneath his bushy brown mustache. His brown hair was a crew-cut style, graying near the sideburns.

"Good morning, chickpea." He said gleefully. Becket shook his head, clearing the last parts of the hallucination he just had. "You must be a part of Project Harbinger. Only way to explain why Aristide would've brought you here."

"What's Project Harbinger?" Becket asked, suddenly very suspicious. The man, a Colonel by the insignia on his uniform, was about to respond when another soldier cut him off.

"Sir. They've been spotted heading for the main entrance." He said with a salute. The Colonel nodded. Becket suddenly realized that this must be that Vanek guy that Aristide mentioned earlier.

"Right. On my way. Samuels, finish up here ... This sucker's not goin' anywhere." He left, as another soldier saluted and began firing into the control room. Suddenly, the door behind Becket exploded open and the Sergeant launched himself backwards, out of the damn chamber. He turned and ran back to the elevator he emerged from, hammering the down button.

"Becket!" Stokes radioed in. "I lost Aristide! She panicked and ran off!"

"I'll keep my eyes open, Stokes." Becket responded, way more calmly than he felt. The elevator doors opened, and Becket ran down the hallway, his eyes open and alert for threats.

"Damn it, what are you still doing in that facility? They're about to blow the whole thing to hell!" Came a mysterious voice.

"Snake Fist." Becket responded.

"We were wondering when you'd call back." Stokes chimed in. "Why are you helping us?"

Becket suddenly stopped, glancing upwards. The skylights that were once showing daylight were now… Flickering? Between static and daylight? What the hell?

"Because I'm convinced that if Sergeant Becket dies, everybody dies." Becket stopped, blood chilled in his veins. What? Why was he so important? What did THAT mean? "It all has to do with Project Harbinger."

That name again… What did it mean?

"What is Project Harbinger?" Becket yelled into his microphone, and he felt Stokes' surprise. He probably shouldn't have yelled.

"I'll explain everything later. For now, just haul ass!" Becket nodded. If Snake Fist was right, and this place was going to blow up, the last thing he needed to do was play 20 questions with this guy. Becket continued down the hallway.

A pair of ATC commandos attempted to ambush him sometime ahead, but Becket was ready. He fired a burst into one of the soldiers, taking him down as he grunted in pain. He then lifted his SMG and fired another burst into the head of the second commando, blowing it apart and rendering it unrecognizable. Blood and chunks of brain showered on the wall behind him as the soldier gasped and collapsed, blood pouring out of what was once his head.

Becket threw open a pair of doors, entering another hallway with flickering skylights.

"Shit. It's just as I thought… I was afraid of this." Snake Fist whispered.

"What now?" Stokes asked, annoyed.

"Alma." Becket stopped midstride and listened intently, fear welling up inside him. "She's now after Sergeant Becket."

"What do you mean 'now'?" Becket asked.

"She was looking for something else before, but now… Your psychic profile is off the charts. She's being drawn towards you."

"My what?"

"Your psychic signature. It's really, really large. Like, beyond normal human power." Becket shook his head, confused. He had psychic powers? Since when? Wouldn't that have made his Green Beret training so much easier? What about high school? It couldn't be true. It had to be a mistake.

Although… He WAS feeling people's emotions and thoughts…

"Who the fuck is Alma?" Stokes asked, sounding annoyed, and interrupting Becket's thoughts.

"She's the mother of the apocalypse." Snake Fist said, and Becket felt his skin prickle. "I… I can't say much more now. Snake Fist out!"

"I'm… At a loss for words." The lieutenant said, feeling dumbfounded. Becket nodded in agreement, knowing full well that she couldn't see him. His mouth felt dry. Alma… The little girl? But she told him to run, said she couldn't hold her off much longer?

The patient.

Of course, it made perfect sense. She WAS searching for something else, and Snake Fist did suggest that she was psychic.

But why was she going after him now? What was going on?

Becket trudged onwards, knowing that the only way he could get answers was to escape this facility. As Becket approached the corner of the hallway he was in, he heard voices.

"This is how we found him."

"One of those soldiers must've gotten him." They had to be ATC commandos.

"Does that look like a bullet wound to you?"

"Who else could do it? A psychotic lab technician? There's no one else here."

"Soldiers I can handle, but this... man. I don't know." The voices trailed off as they walked down the hallway, and when Becket heard the heavy metal of a door slam shut, he moved around the corner.

A dead man was there, dressed in an ATC uniform. However, his body armor and black all-purpose gear was completely soaked in blood. And to top it all off, his head was missing, blood splattered on the wall behind him. But most intriguing to Becket was the strange sayings and symbols written around the man in blood. A quick glance revealed that his fingertip was coated in red, so he wrote these messages in his own blood somehow.

Becket looked over all the messages. Most of them were gibberish and garbage, but three stood out to Becket specifically. The first one read 'Where is he?'. Becket had no idea who he was, but remembered Alma chanting that like a mantra while she searched the morgue. The next word that he picked out was 'Alma'. Straightforward enough. But, like the nurse in the bathroom, why would he write her name out?

Becket felt terror seize his heart as he read the third and final thing that he could make out.

Michael Becket.

His name.

What. The. Fuck.

Why would a headless soldier scrawl his name in blood? And, moreover, why would he write it directly under Alma's name?

More questions, and still no answers. Becket unsteadily got to his feet, all too aware that he was playing hopscotch on the cliff of his sanity.

Screams tore him away from his thoughts, and he glanced down the hall to where the two other ATC guards went. Blood curdling screams erupted from the doors, followed shortly by gurgles and then… A chilling silence.

Becket lifted his SMG, aware of his heart thumping in his ears.

"Becket. I just saw Aristide enter an elevator. I'm going to try to catch up with her. You just worry about getting out of here, we can link up outside." Stokes reported, but Becket made no answer. His mouth was bone dry, and his hands were quivering on his SMG as he slowly stalked towards the door. He pushed the doors, which were already partially ajar, open with the barrel of his Andra, walking inside the hall.

It was a mess. The fluorescent tube lights were hanging from the ceiling, swaying slightly from the single cord that was holding most of them up. They flickered every once in a while, casting eerie shadows along the walls. The desk at the end of the hall was torn up; the computer monitor was smashed on the ground, files lay scattered about willy-nilly, and there was absolutely no one to be seen anywhere. However, a door behind the desk was open slightly, swaying a bit in the still air of the hospital. Becket moved forward cautiously, making sure the flashlight on his KERNAL system checked every possible corner of the hall.

He opened the door, marked Staff Only with his left shoulder, standing ready to fire as he did so, his SMG trained down the current room he was in. It appeared to be a laundry room of some type. Becket's flashlight caught the reflection of blood on the ground, and he moved forward stealthily. One of the ATC soldiers was lying there, his head missing from his body and nowhere to be seen. A bumping sound ahead of Becket made him raise his SMG again, controlling his breathing and trying to do the same to his heart. But that vital organ started pounding out of control when he saw what was making the bumping sound.

He found the soldier's head.

It was in the large industrial drier, bumping around as the machine cycled. Blood was splattering everywhere every time the head bounced around.

A shuffling sound drew Becket's attention to a door to his right. He pushed it open, entering a dark industrial staircase. He climbed the stairs, keeping his light and weapon aimed into the darkness ahead of him. Eventually, the staircase ended with a door. Becket checked to see if there were any creepy crawlies in sight, before pulling it open.

He was in a theater type area. Large windows in the center of the room offered a view downwards. Becket weaved through the chairs, glancing down the windows.

It was an operating room. And it was currently occupied.

A group of people in scrubs hovered over a man on the table, an orderly was blocking his face. Becket's interest was piqued, and he watched as they performed an operation.

Suddenly, something happened.

The doctor grabbed a scalpel, looking at it slightly before plunging it deep into the chest of the man on the table. He started laughing as he pulled it free, sprinkling blood all over the place. Becket froze, unsure of what he was seeing. All of the other people began plunging tools into the man, tearing him up and raining blood around the room. Suddenly, one of the orderlies moved and Becket screamed when he saw who was on the table.

It was himself.

Becket felt the next tool plunge into him, glancing down to see blood splatter out of his body. He yelled in pain, looking down to see the doctor rip his mask off. It wasn't a human face underneath, but was a monster instead. It howled a victory scream, plunging the scalpel into his chest once more, leaving the metal instrument stabbing out of Becket's body.

Suddenly, Becket sat up, pointing up to Becket in the observatory with a wicked smile on his face.

"Boo." The bloodied patient Becket said.

Something reached up and grabbed Becket through the shattered window, throwing him down onto the floor of the operation room. Becket's breath left his body in a hurry, and he somehow managed to continue holding onto his SMG.

He pulled himself up to his feet in the empty operation room, looking for the threat. The creature looked like a human, but its face was completely covered in bandages. Beady, red eyes were visible, as was the mouth, which was full of serrated and broken teeth. It wore a shredded pair of green scrub pants, and was currently hanging from the broken window with its long, sinewy arms, breathing heavily.

Becket brought his SMG up, lining up the creature in his red dot sight and firing a burst. The report of the gunfire and the bright light disoriented Becket slightly, and he didn't see the creature scuttle along the wall like a spider, leaping at Becket and pinning him down, clawing for his throat with excited gasps.

Becket somehow managed to free his foot from the creature, which was attempting to rip his throat out, and kicked it in the face with all of his might. The heavy combat boot connected with the left cheek of the creature, cracking the cheekbone and easily breaking the nose of the creature. Blood ran down its face, causing the creature to howl. Becket kicked it again, knocking the creature off of him. He jumped to his feet quickly, as the creature was trying to get up as well. He ran forward, bringing his foot up.

"Bite the curb, freak show." Becket said breathlessly, slamming his foot down on the face of the creature.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

And a fourth.

The creature twitched slightly as Becket removed his foot from the caved-in face of the abomination, shaking it slightly to remove the blood and brains from the black leather.

"What the fuck are you?" He asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Becket…?" A weak voice made Becket snap his head towards the open doorway of the operating room. He walked to it, entering a hallway. A door was ajar to his right, and he entered it.

Redd Jankowski was lying on an operating table there, a strange machine that looked to be made of three syringes continuously plunged into his chest. The comedic sergeant was extremely pale, blood covered his shredded torso as well as the operating table before running off the edges onto the floor.

"Jesus Christ… Redd?" Becket breathed, moving to the wounded soldier.

"Becket… We have to help her…" Redd said softly, blood trickling out of his mouth. "She's crying… Can't you hear…?"

Redd Jankowski let out a sigh, and his head rolled backwards, his blond hair slowly being stained red.

Becket lowered his head, shaking it softly.

Sergeant Redd Jankowski was dead.

…

**A/N: 16 pages. 6,000 words. This chapter was a bitch to write. **

**2,500+ hits. Booyah. I wish I could see how this compared to the other stories in the F.E.A.R. category.  
**

**I have my own ideas about how F.E.A.R. 3 should go, and if it is supported by my fanbase, I could add a short (5 intervals tops) addition of how I feel the F.E.A.R. trilogy should end.**

**Anyway, review away, yo.**


	15. PO Interval 03 : Recognition

**Project Origin**

**Interval 03**

**Recognition**

SITUATION:

An Armacham black ops team engaged Dark Signal operatives but was inexplicably annihilated. In the confusion, Lieutenant Stokes lost sight of Genevieve Aristide.

Sergeant Redd Jankowski was killed in action, torn up by some sort of surgical machine.

Someone going by the alias "Snake Fist" has been assisting Dark Signal, although his motives aren't clear.

MISSION:

Dark Signal operative is to escape the facility and rendezvous with the surviving operatives.

Secondary objective is to locate Genevieve Aristide.

---

"I know why she's crying," Sergeant Fox reported, sobbing echoing in the background of his radio transmission. "They took her babies… She never… Even got to hold them…"

Becket stepped back, still in shock, staring down at his bloody hands. He had moved Redd from underneath the machine, the yellow liquid-filled syringes continuing to plunge downwards into nothing, squirting their liquid onto the table, which was covered in blood.

He then spent the next fifteen minutes attempting to revive the sergeant, ignoring all of his medical training that, even though it was basic, told him clearly that the soldier was already dead.

Becket was breathing heavily, sweat trickling down his head. He was staring down at Redd's wide eyes, staring at him. Accusing him.

_Why couldn't you help me, Bucket? _

"Shut up." Becket said to no one in particular, closing his eyes. He let out a long sigh, before leaving the room in a daze. He wandered down the open hallway, briefly checking for threats, although it wouldn't help much.

His SMG dangled loosely from its sling, his hands not even touching the cool steel of the weapon. If something had attacked him, or one of those Abominations ambushed him, he would be dead rather quickly.

_Perhaps that's best._

His voice echoed unbidden around his mind. Becket paid it no heed and continued moving silently through the hallways, not paying attention to much of anything. The dark hallways all looked the same. He eventually reached a corner, where the hallway turned ninety degrees to the right, before turning another ninety degrees left shortly afterwards.

Something lunged out of the corner of the hall, grabbing Becket and forcefully shoving him against the wall. Becket's SMG dangled helplessly as he was lifted off the ground, a hand closing around his throat while another grabbed him by the collar of his Kevlar vest. He spluttered and choked, grabbing the forearm of whatever was choking him with his bloodstained hands.

"Stay away from her!" The man snarled, his eyes wide and glowing with insanity. "She's mine!!"

Becket recognized the man assaulting him, even as his vision was starting to fade due to lack of oxygen.

"F… Fox…" He managed to gasp out, grasping at his elbow to somehow possibly alleviate the grip the soldier had around his throat.

_You're going to die, Michael. Have you made your peace yet?_

It was his own voice in his head again.

"Becket…?"

Fox released Becket, who collapsed to the ground coughing and spluttering, rubbing his neck. Fox staggered backwards, clutching his head in his hands.

"How did I get here?" The veteran asked, looking at Becket, who was sitting on the ground, eyeing his fellow soldier dangerously. "What have I done…?"

"Fox," Becket said simply, causing the veteran to look at him. The older man extended his hand, reaching out towards Becket. He grasped his hand thankfully and allowed himself to be helped to his feet. "What the hell happened?"

"I… I don't know." The older man shrugged, scratching his goatee. "In fact, I don't remember how I got here. The last thing I remember is –"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. Fox was slammed against the wall with such force that it splintered the drywall. He grunted in pain, and Becket felt himself thrown backwards onto his backside. He looked up, aware that SOMETHING was crushing him. It was as if gravity had increased ten-fold. It took all of his effort

_I HATE YOU!! I HATE EVERYTHING!!!_

to look up at Fox, who was still pinned against the wall, grunting as he tried to move. Becket winced as he heard bones snap, and Fox yelled in agony.

Becket's vision faded into a sepia tint, and his body temperature plummeted fifty degrees when he realized what would happen next.

"No…!" He managed to gasp out, as a dark tentacle whipped out of the hallway, wrapping itself around Fox, who screamed in fear and pain, pulling him off the wall that he was pinned against. It pulled him down the hallway, out of Becket's view. All he heard was a blood-curdling scream and saw blood splatter the walls and floor.

And then it was over.

Becket unsteadily got to his feet, holding onto the wall for support as his vision cleared. He was aware that the pressure was fading slightly, allowing him to move freely.

He glanced around the corner, his boots making strange sounds as they stepped in the shallow blood puddle on the floor. The charred skeleton, still lightly smoking, lying twisted in the middle of the dark hallway was the last remnants of the former member of Dark Signal.

Becket leaned to the side and heaved, the contents of his stomach splattering onto the tile. He wiped the last few traces of vomit from his lips, his eyes avoiding the macabre scene in front of him. He moved quickly, stepping over Fox's body and continuing down the dark hallway.

He had now seen two of his comrades die before his eyes. Redd would be missed, but Fox…

He had a family, a wife and a seven-year-old daughter. He talked about them often, and now he would never see them again. Because of that thing, he was reduced to a charred skeleton in some sort of hospital.

But Becket was having serious second thoughts about this facility being a hospital, as he wandered through the halls in a stupor, his hand trailing along the wall for support. He eventually wound up in front of a large airlock, the outside hidden by the tinted windows that was inset in both doors. He stared at the doors stupidly for a good two minutes before pressing the open button, stepping inside.

His mind was spinning, as the airlock depressurized and the door directly in front of him opened. Becket shook his head, trying to clear the fog that settled in there. If he couldn't focus, he would die.

He gripped his SMG for the first time since finding Redd, his brain finally sliding back into its groove. He walked forward, stepping into a small elevator. He pressed the up button, and the lift took off.

Now Becket knew for sure that he was not in an ordinary hospital. The building was inside a giant cavern of some type, industrial catwalks crossing over the building and rising into the darkness above. The windows, if they could be called that, were now computer screens, showing a beautiful sky.

"What the hell is this place?" Becket mused, rubbing his nose, as the lift shuddered when it stopped and Becket stepped off onto a large catwalk. He walked down it hurriedly, aware that the bombs planted in this facility were ready to blow soon. His steps created large metallic clangs that echoed around the cavern. Becket held his SMG ready, his brain back to one-hundred percent operating capacity.

As he crossed the catwalk, he noticed an observation window that seemed to be hewn into the rock above him. Colonel Vanek stood in the window, glancing downwards at the Delta operative.

"Vanek!" Becket yelled, lifting his SMG.

"I was hoping you'd show up here," The colonel said, shaking his head and glancing back and giving a command to a soldier behind him. "Now I can bury you where you belong: along with the rest of this unnatural fuckery."

"So you plan to blow this place up?" Becket said, lowering his weapon. "Bury the facility and kill the witnesses?"

"Trust me. A bullet in the head is gentle treatment compared to what Aristide had in store for your poor bastards." Vanek responded, before turning and walking away.

"Wait!" Becket yelled. He had a million questions to ask the Colonel, but he was already out of sight. "Just burying something doesn't get rid of it!"

But he was gone, and if he heard, he made no indication to show that he did. Becket muttered a string of curses and continued walking down the catwalk.

An explosion ripped the air next to him, flames licking the air. The force of the blast pushed Becket back roughly, his lower back connecting with the steel handrail. But it didn't stop there, no sir, Becket's body continued moving, falling backwards off of the railing.

He landed hard on a steel girder jutting from the wall, grunting in pain as he did so, before toppling downwards and landing hard in ankle-deep water above stone ground. Becket's breath exited his body in a hurry, and he was reduced to a coughing fit as his body struggled to get air back into his lungs. He glanced upwards, seeing the fire emerging from the hospital portion of the building.

He was now in front of another building, and Becket slowly got to his feet, brushing himself off. The back half of his body was soaked, and he moved his left shoulder. It smarted a bit, there would definitely be some ugly bruising but nothing seemed to be broken. Joy.

Becket waded through the water, making a beeline for the ladder jutting out of the liquid. He climbed it hurriedly, arriving in an office area. Becket weaved through the hallways quietly, water dripping off of his body. He stepped over a body of a dead man in scrubs, glancing around for threats.

And then he saw her.

She was standing behind a window, watching him intently. She disappeared in a grating noise and distortion, Becket's vision swam, and his vision flashed before his eyes. The KERNAL system began flickering again.

"Be careful, Sergeant Becket," Snake Fist reported in a message garbled with static. "According to my readings, Alma is very close to you now. You're probably already experiencing symptoms of her proximity. Hallucinations, headaches… That kind of thing. You have to resist her!"

"Resist her?" Becket repeated, moving forward slightly. But his only response was the ambient white noise before the KERNAL went dead completely. Becket felt terror prickle his spine, as he suddenly felt very alone. Before, he could always radio in to his teammates, or even Snake Fist, when he was in trouble.

But now, he was by himself. Alone. Isolated.

And it was absolutely pants shitting terrifying.

"Okay, Michael," he said softly to himself, moving quietly along. "You're alone now… Just be cautious and you'll get through this fine…"

_You still have me._

The voice in his head wasn't very reassuring, but at least he wasn't completely alo--

Wait a minute.

If Becket became comfortable with having a voice in his head, even if it was his own, then it would be official; he had taken the last train to Crazytown. Becket moved along, shocked with how his sanity was flirting with the edge.

He approached something on the wall he recognized, a symbol that he had been seeing all night, even before his squad was redirected.

The Armacham Technology Corporation symbol. So this place was related to Armacham. Becket wasn't surprised, they had been pulling the strings all night, so why wouldn't they be doing it now?

A large banging noise made Becket jump and turn down the hallway. The door at the end of the hall was thrown open with such force that the knob embedded itself in the drywall, cracks spreading from the point of impact.

Pressure built all around him again, as if the air was deep, deep water. He didn't fall to his knees this time, but he hunched slightly.

She was there, standing in the doorway, her arms spread wide. All of the assets her nude form had to offer were in plain sight, as were each of her ribs, sticking through the flesh. She stepped forward, jerky, tentative movements. Becket stood transfixed, he could hear her breathing hard, saw her approaching him, her mouth open in a sort of smile.

But for some reason, his brain couldn't command his limbs to function. He was rooted to the spot, and it wasn't until she teleported towards him that he reacted.

She lunged forward, grabbing at him wildly. Becket went on the defensive, shoving his left hand forward in her face and grabbing her skinny wrist with is right hand. She was frantically groping at him with her free hand, scratching his cheek with her long nails. Eventually, his hand stiff-arming her face gave out, and he grabbed her other wrist. She leaned forward, her mouth working. A scream echoed through the hall, but Becket couldn't tell if it was his own or hers. Her eyes, glowing yellow, pierced into his soul. He eventually gathered enough strength to hurl her off of him, and she staggered backwards. The emotion radiating off of her was shock, but that was quickly replaced with anger.

She screamed, a wordless howl of pure malice, and disappeared, reality distorting around her as she did so. All of the glass windows in the hallway exploded as she did so, peppering Becket with glass. As she disappeared, the pressure lifted and Becket's KERNAL system flickered back to life.

"Sergeant Becket," Snake Fist began as soon as the glasses turned back online. "I've been looking over my data, and it seems that Alma has become drawn to you ever since you entered the T.A.C. chamber."

"Why?" Becket asked breathlessly. He was wiped out after throwing her off of him, feeling mentally and physically drained. So his female stalker was Alma, but who was that little girl then? "What does she want?"

"I'm not completely sure yet," The mysterious man admitted. "She covets you. She's like a… Coveter. You're like free pizza at an anime convention. She can smell you… And she wants to consume you."

"Consume me?" Becket echoed, suddenly feeling hollow. "Like eat me?"

"Not exactly. I'm not quite sure yet, but you must resist her. I will let you know as soon as I know more. Just… Hang in there, Sergeant." Snake Fist signed off, and Becket was left feeling more confused than before. Ever since he entered the T.A.C. chamber, she'd been stalking him. And now she wants to consume him? Why?

What the fuck was going on?

One thing was for sure; he wasn't going to find any answers by standing around here. He moved on, stepping through the thrown open door and into a walkway wrapping above what seemed to be a cellblock. One of the windows was shattered, and Becket hopped down onto the cell floor. His SMG was up, following the small light of his flashlight, as he was suddenly aware of something rather frightening.

All of the cell doors were thrown open, swaying lightly in the stagnant air of the cave. A dead ATC trooper was lying outside one of the doors. Becket approached one, his light shining on the inside portion of the door. All of the doors were made of heavy reinforced steel, but one fact drew his attention more than anything else.

Deep scratches were on the inside of the door, black crust inside the scratches. He spread his hand out, setting it on the scratches. It fit, perfectly.

The scratches were fingernail marks. And they were done so deeply that the person who owned the nails tore them off he was scratching them so hard.

Becket felt the familiar feeling of fear creep up his spine, and he glanced back down the hallway.

The ATC soldier was gone. Becket had to do a double take to make sure what he was seeing was right. A sickly red trail led into the cell, and Becket moved quickly, slamming the door and bolting it shut. He didn't want to risk running into anything they kept locked up in here.

Becket moved down the hallway, his boots making soft sounds on the metal grill that made up the ground. Becket entered another door on the other side of the hallway, and the first thing he noticed was the sound. It sounded garbled slightly, but Becket noticed that even when it wasn't garbled, the words were gibberish. It was as if someone was speaking the words in impossibly high speeds.

As Becket rounded the corner, he saw what was making the sounds.

It was one of those things, almost exactly like the one he fought in the operating room. However, this one wasn't a threat. It was strapped into some sort of chair, its head bolted forward. It stared at three monitors, flashing a variety of horrifying images in front of it. The sounds came from those monitors, and the creature struggled in its chair, trying to get free. Becket fired into the monster, either putting it out of its misery or just wanting to kill the fucking thing, he didn't know. He ejected the spent magazine, inserting his final one and moved forward. He moved forward, entering a dark warehouse type area. Large crates rose out of the darkness, blocking Becket's view as he moved down the dark and silent room.

Heavy breathing reached his ears, turning Becket on high alert. He moved forward, his eyes darting to every visible hiding spot, his weapon following his eyes. There was nothing, he had moved through the entire warehouse without problem, but the heavy breathing was still following him, and Becket had no idea where the --

The roof.

He lifted his head, the flashlight on the side of his KERNAL system illuminating the Abomination just as he lifted his weapon, he fired as the creature dropped down on him, it landed on him, twitching feebly before releasing a final breath and dying.

Screams echoed down the empty warehouse, and Becket looked to where they were coming from.

"Jesus," He whispered, when he saw one, two, three…

Shit, there were four of them, and they were all sprinting at Becket full-speed. He shoved the dead weight off of him, getting to his feet as quickly as he could and sprinting in the opposite direction of the charging monsters. He turned and fired a few quick bursts towards the creatures.

His SMG jammed.

Oh son of a bitch, why NOW of all times?!

His hands gripped for the bolt, the sweaty fingers sliding off the slick metal as he tried to clear the breach, still sprinting for the other side of the warehouse. The howls of the creatures reached his ears; the creatures themselves were illuminated slightly by the flashlight, bobbing as Becket found something worth running to.

It was a cargo elevator, the doors currently open and inviting. Becket ran in so hard that he ran into the cage wall on the other side, damn near falling over as he did so. He stepped backwards, slamming his fist down on the button to close the doors, and another to lift the elevator upwards.

Becket breathed heavily, his heart pounding in his ears as if he ran several miles rather than just merely several yards. He pulled the bolt three times, the first two it caught halfway through, but on the third it cleared, and the bullet causing the jam flew out of the gun as Becket lifted his head.

A single Abomination was still hanging onto the elevator, climbing onto the roof where it moved around tearing at the chain link that made up the roof. Becket fired, but the creature was moving around quickly, dodging the bullets. The elevator began to slow down, and the creature glanced upwards, screaming.

The scream was cut off as the Abomination was plunged into the spinning fan above the elevator, raining blood and flesh down on Becket as he stood below. He felt his stomach turn, and if he hadn't already emptied his stomach, he would've done so again. Instead, he dry heaved a few times, opening the gate and running outside, brushing clumps of Abomination off his Kevlar. The elevator behind him exploded, fire rushing out of the shaft as the lower floor was taken out by the ATC explosives.

He lifted his head, taking in his surroundings. He appeared to be in some sort of staging area, there were numerous plywood shells of buildings hastily constructed around the dirt arena. Becket felt like a gladiator in some sort of ancient death match. The numerous large monitors hanging about the arena suddenly activated, drawing Becket's attention.

It was Colonel Vanek, his bushy mustache twitching slightly as he spoke.

"Well, son. End of the road. Can't say I'm gonna miss your foot up my ass..." The modern day Caesar said smugly, and Becket now saw that he was standing in the glassed-in observation room above the arena. "Let me show you something while I've got your attention."

He started plugging away on a computer console next to him.

"Guy named Harlan Wade had this place built. He's the one that came up with the Replica program. Genetically engineered puppet soldiers that respond to telepathic orders from psychic commanders. Fucking crazy if ya' ask me." Vanek stepped aside, as one of those creatures rose into view, strapped into its chair and twitching wildly.

"This abomination was supposed to become one of the commanders. Started off as a regular Joe like you or me. The problem is the process of turning somebody into a viable commander takes a bit of a toll," Vanek cleared his throat, and Becket was still curious about what the soldier was going to say. "With the right amount of psychic amplification, this thing can control the Replica, but he's so far gone nobody can control him… Not very useful for a military situation, but adequate for my present needs."

The Colonel leaned close to the camera.

"How about a demonstration?"

"Sir!" A soldier interrupted, causing Vanek to turn. "Team 6 sighted Aristide a couple of klicks away. They think she's headed for the labs."

"Then let's go pay our respects. Mendez, finish up here. I don't want anybody digging anything out of this hole that links us to Project Origin or Alma or any of this insanity. You read me?" Vanek said, turning back to the camera. "Bye now, see you in hell."

He pressed a button, and the monitors turned off. A warning klaxon went off in the arena, and Becket looked around. A number of pods were rising out of the ground, and Becket felt a surge of something in his mind.

Suddenly, the pods opened and a number of soldiers stormed out. All of their heads snapped towards Becket, and they lifted their assault rifles. Becket dove into cover as gunfire peppered the area; Becket slammed his back to the thin plywood as bullets punched holes through the wood. Becket leaned out, firing potshots at the Replica soldiers. One of them collapsed with a scream, Becket moved out of his cover, heading towards another.

Replica soldiers… So these guys were what were causing the problems earlier tonight. Becket looked at them, noticing that they all moved exactly the same, their dark visors obscuring their faces. It was strange, like watching a mirror image that was a frame or two off.

Becket popped out of cover, firing another burst at the Replicas, killing another, the soldiers snapped towards Becket and fired at his cover.

"Check it!" One of them ordered. Another one approached Becket, who brought the butt of his SMG under the chin of the clone, his head snapped up and Becket grabbed the soldier, using him as a human shield. He whipped out his pistol and fired a trio of 9mm shots at the final Replica, before firing a single shot into the head of the Replica he was holding.

The soldier dropped, blood running onto the dirt and making a type of red mud. Becket dropped his SMG, trading it for one of the assault rifles the Replicas were using. It looked like a US XM7 prototype rifle, but it was slightly tweaked, making this the Patten PK470 Assault Rifle, one of the best rifles available on the market. Becket slung it over his shoulder, finding three more fully loaded magazines on the bodies of the Replicas, before there was another warning siren, and the pods began lowering. Seeing no other way out, Becket clambered down the hole and entered a sort of packaging facility for Replicas.

Numerous pods were spread about the room, and limp Replica soldiers were being inserted into them via crane. Becket moved through the labyrinth of puppet soldiers and metal pods, eventually reaching a large cargo elevator. He moved to it quickly, pressing a few buttons on the controls. The door above him opened, blinding Becket slightly with sunlight. The elevator began lifting to the surface, but he suddenly the lift shuddered and stopped.

Becket glanced out, seeing one of the valves had been blown open on the hydraulics. He sighed, hopping off the lift and walking towards the valve, screwing it shut.

A loud bang behind Becket made the Dark Signal operative turn quickly.

A mechanical walker was stomping its way towards Becket, the words REV-7 printed proudly on the front of the walker. It warmed its chain guns hanging off of the sides of the walker. Becket dove to the side as the chain guns tore up the sheet metal that made up the floor and the walls. Becket rolled to the side, drawing the walker towards him. He already had a plan forming in his head.

The walker stomped towards Becket, who fired a quick pair of shots at the walker to draw it towards him even more. It ducked underneath the lift, which was partway to the surface already, when Becket sprung his trap.

He fired at the hydraulic, causing a jet of steam to emerge from the pipe. The lift collapsed down, crushing the walker and causing an explosion to leak out of the sides of the lift. Becket strode over to a valve and closed the leak he created before climbing back on the lift and telling it to return to the surface again.

As it lifted upwards, Becket glanced at his heart monitor on the KERNAL system. He had completely forgotten about it, and he watched as the heart rate dropped out of the danger zone into a regular rhythm. Another portion of the KERNAL lit up as Becket neared the surface.

"Top, I've got something on the datanet. I think it's…" Becket's heart leapt again. Stokes was still alive, and judging from the fact that she was talking to Top meant that the First Sergeant was still alive too. "Becket! Oh thank God you're alive!"

"Told ya' not to worry, Stokes," Top said happily. "He's tough like me."

"Becket; Keegan and Manny are en route. We're going to try to link up at the stadium but uh…" She trailed off slightly. "The streets are a mess, so we're going to have to improvise a bit."

"Becket copies, en route to the stadium." Becket responded as the lift rose slowly towards the surface.

But Becket couldn't help but wonder how much of a mess the streets really were.

And if Alma was up there. Waiting for him.

…

**A/N: So, if I get overwhelming positive support in my reviews to write my ideas for F.E.A.R. 3 (5 Intervals tops), it will be the next chapter most likely. Otherwise, it'll just be Project Origin Interval 04 (out of 7).**

**3000+ Hits. Thank ya'll for reading!  
**

**This is a new portion to the chapters that I'll write at the end, songs used (yay YouTube), to give ya'll a better feeling to what mood I was striving for while writing the story.**

**Anyway, review away.**

**Songs Used:**

**Hospital / Fox Attack:** "The Hive" from Resident Evil: Outbreak

**Cavern / Cell Area / Replica Floor: **"Place for Memory" from Final Fantasy 9

**Alma Theme: **"Those Chosen by the Planet" from Final Fantasy 7

**Fleeing from the Abominations:** "Ashes and Ghost" from Silent Hill 2

**Replica Attack: **"Battle" from Final Fantasy 8


	16. F3AR Interval 01 : Inundation

**F.3.A.R.**

**Interval 01**

**Inundation**

SITUATION:

A catastrophic explosion from the Project Origin facility has destroyed the Auburn Industrial District. In the aftermath of the explosion, the helicopter carrying F.E.A.R. operatives crash landed in the city.

Radio contact with F.E.A.R. commander is still blocked due to psychic interference.

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. operatives are to reestablish radio contact with headquarters.

Secondary objective is to locate test subject Alma Wade.

---

"_State your name, soldier."_

"_Commander Wade, Ja--"_

"_Incorrect, Prototype, you have no name. You have no history; you are bred for a single purpose… To control the Replica army. Now, repeat."_

"… _I am bred for the single purpose to_

_Wake up._

My eyes shot open as I issued a short gasp, swallowing dust and causing a coughing fit. I was laying spread eagle on my stomach in the middle of a large room. Rubble dominated my vision, so I pushed myself up, sliding my knees up under my body. I shook my head, causing dirt to cascade off my long black hair. I instinctively reached out psychically, searching for anyone around me. It was not in vain; Jin was nearby, Holiday and Passalaqua too.

So was Alma. I could feel her out there, somewhere. Waiting. I probed harder, but she was too far away to get a good read on her mind. But I could feel that she was searching for something.

And I had a nagging suspicion that it was probably me.

"Jin!" I called, slowly getting to my feet and twisting out a crick in my neck. "Jin!"

"I'm over here!" Came her voice, it was a bit faint, but I could tell she was in the next room. Somehow I managed to fly through a pretty small hole near the top of the wall, landing in this room. I moved to the doorway, obstructed and blocked by some rubble. I gripped the slab of concrete, reaching out with my mind.

It was strange. I could not remember anything before arriving at the F.E.A.R. offices for the first time, none of my past, hell, not even my own name. It wasn't like anything was covering the memories up, like fog or darkness or something, it was just that they simply weren't there.

But for some reason, the ability to use my psychic powers was restoring little by little. It was like riding a bike. The more I had to use them, the easier it became. When I was in the Project Origin facility, my psychic power was completely out of control and being used subconsciously.

But now, it was simple. I focused my telekinetic energy into my arms, tossing the two-ton concrete slab aside like it was a pillow. I stepped into the room, looking around carefully. Jin was standing there, holding onto the wall for support. Her skin-tight stealth suit was torn on her shoulder, revealing a jagged wound. Her eyes were open in surprise at my entrance. I looked past her, down the hallway.

The smoldering wreckage of the helicopter was there, complete with the pilot slumped in his chair, clearly dead. Holiday and Passalaqua were moving down the hallway, the Private leaning on the Sergeant for support, since he was missing his leg below the knee.

"You're freaking me out a bit, man." Holiday said, moving to stand next to Jin. I learned to shut out people's feelings, preventing them from overrunning my mind, but if I had to guess what my three allies were feeling surprise with a great deal of apprehension and fear. I strode past them without a word, unbuckling and pulling the dead pilot out of the wreckage of the chopper.

"What do you plan on doing?" Jin asked softly as I unzipped the featureless Kevlar vest from the pilot and pulled it on over my navy blue short sleeved F.E.A.R. shirt, zipping it up. I then relieved him of his sidearm, a simple Beretta 92fs, tucking the pistol into the holster on my thigh. His extra magazines were already tucked into various pouches on his vest.

"I'm going after Alma." I responded pulling a simple rubber band off his wrist. I pulled my shoulder length hair back, pulling the rubber band over it and tying it off into a ponytail. I drew the combat knife off my vest, pulling it swiftly across the long black strands. I tossed the loose hair aside, and heard a gasp from Jin. I glanced into the shards of glass lying on the ground.

Paxton Fettel stared back at me. It was not an exact match, but I looked extremely similar to my younger brother, much more now that I had cut my hair.

"You're leaving us here?" Holiday asked, his hand on his SMG.

"No," I responded, shaking my head. "I'll go with you until we find an electronics store or a big rig or something. Alma's psychic interference blew out our current radios, if we find new ones we should be able to get back in contact with Betters."

"And then…?" Jin asked quietly, as if she was afraid of the answer.

"And then I'll leave you and go after Alma," I said, drawing my pistol and pulling back the slide. "And I'm going to kill her."

"You are the freaking Terminator." Passalaqua said slowly, and I laughed in spite of myself. Jin and Holiday joined in as well and I shook my head, marveling at the idea that I couldn't feel the long hair brushing my neck. The forced and awkward laughter quieted quickly, and we stood in silence for a few seconds, my teammates looking uneasily at me.

"Let's move." I commanded, and all three of them nodded solemnly.

We left the building, stepping out into the deserted streets. Jin gasped, and I felt myself be surprised as well.

The city was destroyed.

… That was not an understatement.

The cement was fissured everywhere, sidewalks were splintered and broken. Buildings were blown apart, rubble piled on the ground, and damn near every window was shattered. A large cloud of dust and debris floated over the tops of the buildings, obstructing the early morning sunlight and making the city eerily dark and tinted a hellish red. Burned out shells of cars lined the roads, created obstructions all over the place.

I walked quickly down the road, weaving between piles of rubble and ruined cars. My Beretta was out now, the weight of the weapon in my hand was a bit of a reassurance, and I turned my head to see Jin, Holiday, and Passalaqua had their hands on their own weapons. I paused in the street, closing my eyes and focusing slightly.

_Alma._

My eyes opened. I had picked up her trail. Her psychic power was intense that I could sense it even though she was in some sort of area that prevented psychic energy from leaking out.

But there was something else there. I focused so hard that my brow furrowed and my eyes squinted.

It was another psychic signature… But this one…

It was enormous. Not as big as Alma's, but definitely larger than my own, or even Fettel's.

Whose psychic power is that strong? And how come I never felt them earlier? Did Alma release maybe another test subject?

I pushed the thoughts away. Maybe it was an ally of some type. Alma appeared to be following him, so it was possible that she was just as worried as I was.

I continued walking, and heard Holiday release a sigh of relief behind me. Poor guy really didn't trust me anymore. Couldn't say I didn't blame him.

We walked for a while in silence, finally locating something worthwhile. A Radioshack, the one building that actually had its windows still intact. I fired a pair of shots into the window, shattering the glass and creating an entrance into the electronics store. I didn't think anyone would mind. Nobody was still alive or around in this city anyway.

I clambered through the window, squinting in the darkness of the building. The power was out. Go figure, right? Everything else in this city was destroyed so why not the power?

I weaved through the darkened aisles, coming across the walkie-talkie one. I grabbed a pair off the hook, slicing the factory sealing open with my knife. I handed the two walkies to Jin and Holiday. They raided the battery stand and plugged them into their makeshift radios. They handed me a bunch of batteries and I activated my radio as well.

"What's the F.E.A.R. emergency channel?" I asked Jin.

"1 – 15," she said, smiling slightly. "Jankowski said I was stupid for learning that. When's the city going to be blown up, he always asked me… We're gonna never need this stupid code!"

I laughed slightly at her impression of the large lieutenant, before stopping and remembering the specter that had warned me earlier. I fiddled with my radio, setting the channel before raising it to my mouth.

"Betters come in, over." I said. Static hissed back at me. I repeated myself, waiting for a response.

"Shit." Holiday muttered, and I nodded. Radio was still out. All of my allies glanced at me, their faces clearly asking for me to tell them what to do. I took a deep breath, dropping the radio.

"Guess we'll have to do this the hard way…" I muttered, leaving the Radioshack through the shattered window we entered through.

"What do you mean the hard way?" The black sergeant asked me, grabbing the wounded private off the curb where he was left when we entered the store. I shrugged, turning around to face my small group of followers. Jin just ducked through the window, walking towards the group slowly.

"There's only one place in the city that would have radios that are military grade…" I muttered. All three members of my squad nodded in agreement.

"The police station." Passalaqua said wearily. I nodded, turning on my heel without a second thought.

"Right," I said, glancing up at the street signs on the corner of the street. One was blown in half, while the other was covered in grime. I could tell what the names were though. "We're currently on the corner of Main and King, and the police station is north, at the intersection of Main and Raven Street. It's about three blocks… You good for it Passalaqua?"

"Damn straight," the Private said, leaning on Holiday heavily. "Let's mosey."

I chuckled, checking my pistol. I motioned for my little team to follow me, and we moved silently through the empty streets. The only sound to reach out ears was the soft breeze of wind ruffling the torn banners and power lines.

We walked the three blocks in silence, our footsteps echoing around the deserted streets. I looked around the empty and dark buildings, noticing how scary the place was. There were no monsters (but I wasn't complaining, I had my fair share of those last night) but there was something terrifying about being somewhere where there should be people, but no one is around. I guess it's just a basic human desire, one for contact. I wondered idly if this was what Chernobyl was like.

"Hey," Jin called softly, jarring me out of my reverie. "We're here."

And here we were indeed. The impressive structure towered over us into the red sky. The doors were closed, and the windows were dark. Unsurprisingly.

I strode up the steps confidently, resting my hand on the handle of the door. It was locked, so I simply added a bit of telekinetic into the mix and pulled the door of its hinges, dropping it carefully over the side of the steps. I motioned for my friends to follow me, but they all remained at the bottom of the steps.

"No thanks," Holiday said, shaking his head. "If there was anyplace a zombie psychic chick would be hiding, the scary abandoned police station is number two on the list."

"What's number one?" Passalaqua asked, looking at his sergeant.

"The scary abandoned hospital."

"There's no psychic energies coming from inside." I said, gesturing with my hand. It was true; Alma and that other energy were still a mile or two away, deep underground.

"How do we know you're not baiting us into a trap?" Holiday challenged, eyeing me warily. Passalaqua nodded in complete agreement.

"… To hell with you then." I muttered dangerously, walking inside the empty building. The lobby was trashed, the explosion had blown the windows inwards and the shockwave from the explosion hadn't treated the interior of the building very well.

I crossed the room carefully, my eyes searching out every possible hiding spot. I found a few piles of ash spread throughout the room, most notably hidden behind or under desks. I realized with a start that these people were fried in the explosion of the Project Origin facility.

"I… Did this…?" I whispered, suddenly remembering. Mapes had told me to blow the Origin facility up to kill Alma, but that plan didn't work. Did he know the explosion would destroy all of Fairport? Maybe that was his plan in the beginning… Hoping that the explosion would be big enough to kill her.

My eyes widened in surprise as I felt something that made my skin prickle.

That other incredible psychic signature was out into the world. It had somehow escaped from wherever it was being trapped, revealing its full power to me.

And its power was incredible. I thought that Fettel's was large when I first felt it, but this one completely overwhelmed his. It was still lower than Alma's, but it was actually close.

What the hell is this? Why had I never felt it before?

My mind went numb for a second, and my vision swam. I grabbed onto the desk for support as I fell to my knees, my breath coming in pained gasps.

What the…?

It was a huge spike in psychic energy, and it positively reeked of rage.

Alma…

She was mad? Did it have to do with that other psychic signature? So many questions… And I thought I had all the answers figured out.

Something grabbed my elbow, and I instinctively, slapped the hand away, spinning and raising my pistol at the target.

It was Jin, and her eyes widened as she stared down the barrel of my pistol. I muttered an apology as I holstered my weapon.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly. I nodded.

"Where are the Deltas?" I asked, finishing my walk across the room.

"They stayed outside." She answered, grasping her SMG and activating her flashlight. I nodded and we walked down the hallway silently.

I felt them before I saw them, small psychic signatures suddenly sprang up out of nowhere.

"Get down!" I yelled, shoving Jin aside as the hallway we were in was shredded with automatic weapons fire. I dove into a doorway, firing my Beretta wildly down the hallway.

"What…?" Jin started, leaning out and firing her SMG.

"Replicas!" I yelled, firing until my magazine was empty and inserting a new one. And I was right, the dark visor wearing clone soldiers marched down the hallway, sliding into cover in several doorways along the sides. I fired again, blasting apart the visor of one soldier and watching as Jin took down the other one.

The door behind us was kicked open and four Replicas stormed in, guns a blazin'. I turned around as gunfire peppered the doorframe I was currently hiding behind.

"There's too many!" Jin yelled, pushed back into cover herself. I slid my pistol around the corner, firing blindly at the soldiers. I heard a pained scream of one, and the fire lessened up somewhat. I stepped into the hallway, emptying my magazine into the three Replicas standing, before ejecting it and inserting a fresh one, killing the remaining one standing before he could even get a bead on me.

"How'd you do that?" Jin breathed, moving out of cover. "I've never seen anyone move so fast."

"Telekinetics," I said simply, grabbing the Replica by the vest and pulling him so I could stare him in the eyes. "Who's controlling you?"

I saw my eyes turn yellow in the reflection from his visor, and felt his thoughts

_Hate. Hate. Hate. Kill. Kill. Kill._

infiltrate my mind.

"Alma." I muttered, leveling my pistol and firing a single shot into the clone, who slumped to the floor. I rubbed my eyes. So she activated the Replicas again… This could make things more interesting.

A pair of Replicas sprang through the open door, taking both Jin and I by surprise, but before anything could happen, they were ripped apart by gunfire. I turned my head to see Holiday and Passalaqua, smoking SMGs gripped in their hands, standing in the doorway. Holiday shrugged.

"We heard gunfire." He said, semi-apologetic. I nodded, voicing my thanks before motioning him to follow me.

It wasn't hard to find the armory, hell, it was the only room that had a keypad mounted on the wall next to it. With the power out the door was unlocked, so I pushed it open and grabbed four radios. We activated them; luckily they all had full battery, and keyed it into the F.E.A.R. station.

"Betters, come in," I tried hailing the F.E.A.R. commissioner again, but was once again only met by the quiet noise of static. "Betters, do you read?"

I was about to give up hope when…

"Holy shit!" Cried the commander over the radio, his voice still garbled slightly by static, but still audible. "You're alive! When the helicopter went down I thought…"

"Yeah, I'm okay boss. Jin, Holiday, and Passalaqua are all here as well." I responded.

"Great! What is your 20?"

"The police station on the corner of Main and Raven. What's the plan, Chief?"

"I'm in a mobile command center on the outside of town with the rest of the Delta operatives, we'll roll in and pick you guys up for a debriefing."

I paused, looking at the rest of my team. They all looked ready to go.

"With all due respect, sir, but I have something I need to take care of." I said, and Betters didn't respond for a moment.

"Alma?" He asked, and didn't even wait for my response. "You need to get back to base --"

"Sir! If Alma stays out there, who knows what will happen!" I basically yelled into the radio, causing Jin to jump slightly. "I know how to deal with her! I'm…"

I trailed off, looking resolutely into the eyes of each of my comrades.

"… The only one who can." I finished lamely, not expecting Betters to believe me.

"I understand." He responded, surprising me. "You can explain this all to me later, but I will remain in radio contact with you whether you like it or not."

"That's fine by me, sir." I laughed, feeling slightly relieved that I wouldn't have to explain everything now. But my face grew serious. "Sir, you can pick up Jin and the Deltas here, but I am ready to continue my pursuit of Alma."

Clap. Clap. Clap. I turned and looked out the doorway, hearing a round of applause greet my words.

"My… My… My… What a rousing speech," came a voice that made my heart stop. It was impossible… It couldn't be…! "I almost got goose bumps, dear brother."

And then he stepped into the doorframe, making the door almost like a mirror. My mind went numb; I couldn't think, I couldn't react. I could only stare.

Paxton Fettel was back.

…

**A/N: 4,000+ Hits. Booyah.**

**Project Origin Interval 04 next. Revieeeeeeeeeew...! (shakes fist menacingly.)  
**

**Music Used:**

**Abandoned Building: "**Serenity" from Resident Evil 4

**Destroyed City: **"Dark World" from Final Fantasy VI

**Police Station: **"White Noiz" from Silent Hill 2

**Ambush: **"Maybe I'm a Lion" from Final Fantasy VIII

**Post-Ambush Police Station / Contact: **"Armory" from Metal Gear Solid

**Fettel's Theme: **"Wesker's Theme" from Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles


	17. PO Interval 04 : Devastation

**Project Origin**

**Interval 04**

**Devastation**

SITUATION:

Dark Signal operative has escaped the underground facility and established contact with Lieutenant Stokes and First Sergeant Griffin.

Sergeant Fox was killed in action by the same horrific force originally encountered in the T.A.C. lab.

Snake Fist insists Dark Signal operatives are being hunted by something called Alma who will attempt to absorb them.

MISSION:

Dark Signal operative is to rendezvous with team at a rally point near the stadium.

---

Becket rode the lift upwards, checking his assault rifle as he did so. The lift shuddered and stopped in a large warehouse. A thick coating of dirt covered the ground, and the large windows were covered in grime, letting in very little light. Becket stepped off the lift, his eyes searching for any threats.

"What the hell was that place, anyway? Wasn't a damn hospital, that's for sure." Top said over the KERNAL system.

"You got me, Top. I'm just glad to be out of there." Replied Stokes. Becket moved around the warehouse, searching for an exit. He weaved his way through a series of hallways.

"That facility was built as part of Project Harbinger. To turn candidates like you into Replica commanders. Although it hasn't worked out too well, as Sgt. Becket can attest." Snake Fist chimed in, causing Stokes to groan.

"You still eavesdropping on us?"

"Zip it and listen, honey cakes," the mysterious man responded curtly, causing every to be quiet. Even Becket paused halfway down the stairs. "Genevieve Aristide thinks she can contain Alma. But her plan is going to backfire. Alma is too powerful to be contained… She probably always was."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Becket asked.

"Destroy her."

"How?" Stokes questioned.

"Worry about that later. Right now we need to focus on reaching the rally point. Get to the stadium and then we'll talk about what to do next. You won't do anything by yourselves." Snake Fist said before signing off. Becket found a door at the bottom of the stairs, and we stepped forward and twisted the knob, giving the door a gentle push.

Rather than the door swinging on its hinges, like it should, it merely tipped over and collapsed onto the ground. The door blew a cloud of dust out from underneath it as it collapsed, and Becket stepped outside, into the ruined city of Fairport.

"What the hell happened here?" He asked aloud, staring at the desolation and destruction. A rumbling overhead drew his attention upwards, and as Becket stared into the sky he saw a large 747 jet flying through the air.

But something was wrong.

Its right engine was on fire, and the plane was heading downwards at a steady pace. It barely cleared the rooftops of some apartment buildings before landing hard, and a massive explosion lit up the blood red sky.

Becket shut his eyes, closing them tightly as hundreds of screams bombarded his mind before they were quickly silenced. He opened them slowly, expecting to see something, but he was standing on an empty street. He moved quickly, weaving through the alleyway he was in and finding his way back to a street.

Frozen in the street were gray silhouettes of numerous people, all of them contorted into various forms of fear. Becket stepped forward, touching the person who had his, or her, arms thrown up in front of his face as if shielding itself from something. As he touched the arm of the silhouette, the body collapsed into a pile of ash, causing Becket to take a step back.

People. These were people that were fried to ash.

_What a way to go. _The voice in his head said sadly. Becket agreed mentally and continued moving, walking down the street.

Something assaulted his mind, causing him to collapse to one knee and grab onto the burned out husk of a car next to him for support. His vision swam, and Becket took deep, panicked breaths.

"What the hell just happened?" Becket asked, breathlessly over his radio.

"I just picked up a massive energy spike emanating from the Harbinger facility. It's Alma's telesthetic signature… Probably a reaction to Sgt. Becket getting away from her." Snake Fist informed him, as Becket pulled himself to his feet slowly.

"She must be pissed." Stokes quipped.

"The bad news is she probably woke up most of the Replica forces within 10 square miles." Snake Fist mused, and Becket shook his head. Of course! It could never be too easy. Becket continued down the street, his hand trailing on the various destroyed vehicles that littered the street for support.

He went down an alleyway, shooting open a padlocked fence and continuing through the tight passageway. He turned the corner in the dark and grafitti stained alley, emerging back onto the street. But something was there.

Becket gasped as he stared.

Alma's tree? What the hell was it doing here?

It jutted out of the concrete, its roots tearing huge chunks out of the concrete slabs that made up the sidewalk. A lone, simple swing hung from its branches, swaying slightly in the wind.

_Swing. _The voice in his mind commanded, and the tree slowly faded away, leaving no evidence that it ever existed behind.

Becket rubbed his eyes with shaky hands, allowing the assault rifle to dangle from his sling. He removes his hands, just in time to see something that confused him even more. A burned out taxi stood where the tree once was, its hazard lights blinking slowly. Suddenly, a man emerged from behind the rubble to the left of the taxi. He is dressed as a normal low-level office employee would look; a white shirt with tie, a fedora-style cap, and he clutches a briefcase in his hand.

He steps up to the cab, waving his hand as if he was trying to hail it. Becket cocked an eyebrow, stepping forward cautiously.

"Uh, sir," Becket said, approaching the man. "Are you alright?"

The man made no response, simply continuing to wave his hand at the cab. Becket got closer, being just an arms length away from the man when he lowered his arm.

His head snapped around 180 degrees, and Becket yelled in surprise.

The man's right eye was covered in hideous boils, and his left eye stared blankly towards Becket. The lower part of his jaw was ripped right off, leaving trails of blood and muscle tissues hanging loosely from it.

The thing screamed, a mournful, bone-chilling scream that made Becket stumble backwards clutching at his head. As Becket's vision cleared, the creature sprinted away, conjuring some sort of red strands out of its body.

Becket watched in horror as the strands attached itself to a dead ATC soldier in the street, and pulled the soldier upwards, manipulating it like a puppet. The dead soldier cocked its weapon, and Becket fired a burst into the head of the dead man.

The bullets had no effect, and the ATC unloaded his weapon towards Becket, who dove out of the way, into a shelled out building for cover. He popped out and fired again, tearing the ATC apart with the large caliber bullets, but the ATC continued firing, before dropping its empty SMG and reaching for its pistol.

Becket ejected the spent magazine, swearing as he inserted a new one. He couldn't stop this puppet.

Wait a second.

That's all it was. A puppet! If he killed the puppet master…

Becket leapt out of his cover, narrowly dodging the high velocity bits of death the ATC kept sending his way, and ducking behind the corner, where he saw the puppeteer vanish. There it was, hiding behind the wall, it turned and roared at Becket as he approached, charging at him, swinging its briefcase wildly. Becket leveled his assault rifle at the charging monster, aiming his ACOG scope directly into the torso of the creature.

He fired, semi automatically, his finger working constantly as he emptied his magazine into the charging monstrosity. The creature, riddled with bullet holes, swayed as it continued charging at Becket, before collapsing to the ground in a heap, sliding a few inches.

Instantly, the red fluorescent strands disappeared and the ATC dropped limply to the ground.

Becket took a deep breath, ejecting his magazine and inserting his final one, pulling the bolt back and readying his weapon. He took a trio of deep breaths before returning to the street and moving quickly down it.

But his progress was hindered when he saw a large obstruction ahead. An entire building had collapsed into the middle of the road, blocking access. Becket glanced to his left, moving to the door and entering. It was an office building. He stepped through the lobby, moving quickly up the stairs. A large stomping sound outside made him glance at the dirty window, but it was so covered in dirt and grime that it was impossible to see through.

Becket reached the top of the stairs, entering the doorframe and weaving his way through the dark cubicle area.

"Uh, guys, I got a problem here. A big one," Snake Fist radioed in. "Genevieve just showed up with a massive Armacham hit squad on her tail. I'm sure she wants my help with something, but we're both dead if she leads them in here."

"Shit," Stokes breathed. "What's your location?"

"Come to Wade Elementary, on Sycamore and Highland… Oh, that stupid bitch. Goddammit." Snake Fist signed off. Becket got a nagging suspicion suddenly. Wade Elementary… Harlan Wade. The founder of the Replica program… Did he have something to do with the elementary school?

But then Becket noticed something else. There was something there, something in the back of his head, a pressure of some sort. It was always directly behind him, and for some reason he had a feeling that it was relatively large.

Screw that, it was the size of a fucking skyscraper!

But there was something else now, something else he hadn't noticed before.

Another pressure. This one was very small though, which is why he never noticed it before, the pressure in the back of his head was constant, like a throbbing headache. And the new one was puny, compared to the other, and it was far away it seemed.

What the hell was he sensing? It confused him incredibly. Becket shook the thoughts away from him, continuing to slowly weave his way through the cubicles. A chunk was blown out of the wall in front of him, and he hopped out the hole and dropped down into another alleyway.

"All right, Becket, let's hustle. We've got to get to them before Armacham does." Stokes said, and Becket confirmed the new objective.

He left the alley, but found a totally new sight that he really didn't want to see. But at least he found the source of the mysterious stomping from earlier.

A large Elite Powered Armor stomped down the street, using its dual chain guns to rip apart any ATC soldiers that dared to engage it. They exploded into clouds of blood and a shower of flesh as the heavy machine guns tore them apart. One of them popped out, taking aim with a large tube-like device before he, too, was shredded by the chain guns.

Becket sprinted forward, sliding into cover behind a burned out minivan. He glanced out, seeing the EPA stomp towards him. He wasn't quick enough.

Shit.

Becket looked left and right, looking for something that'd do damage to this new opponent.

Bingo.

That tube thing was a heat-seeking RPG. Becket leaned out of cover quickly, grabbing the large weapon out of the mess of blood, flesh, and organs that was once a man. He leaned back into cover, making sure the rocket launcher was still active and ready to fire. It was.

"Alright…" Becket muttered. "Let's do it."

Becket popped out, leveling the RPG. Apparently this took the EPA by surprise, as it took a moment to warm up its chain guns. Becket gave it no such chance, firing the RPG as soon as it was locked on.

The rocket launched out, pausing briefly before the thrusters kicked in and it rocketed towards its target. It hit the EPA walker dead on, blowing a sizable hole in the cockpit. The walker stood still for a moment, before the power core of the reactor ignited and the secondary explosion tore apart the walker, showering the area with debris.

"This is Griffin. I'm getting close to the stadium, but the damage is pretty severe. I'm gonna… Hold on..." The Sergeant paused, and Becket listened in carefully. He could hear sobbing in the background of the radio transmission. "Hey! Wait! Come back!"

"What's going on, Top?" Stokes asked. The sobbing was getting louder over the radio.

"A woman! She's... Something's wrong with her. I think she needs help.. I'm going after her..." He responded before signing off.

"Be careful, Top." Stokes said, Becket looking down towards her portrait at the bottom of his KERNAL system. He found himself staring into her eyes for a moment, before shaking his head and continuing on, stepping over the smoldering pieces of the EPA.

"Shit. Top, the stadium is a no go. Streets are completely blocked." Becket heard Manny's voice for the first time since he had been dropped off at Aristide's penthouse.

"Okay, stay where you are and we'll come to you." The First Sergeant said.

"Will do. We're on 4th Avenue. Cross street is... Townsend."

"Copy that."

Becket glanced up at the street sign where he was. He was several blocks from that intersection, but the sheer amount of damage that the city has incurred might make travelling that short distance incredibly hard.

And he was right, another building collapsed across the street, causing Becket to detour into another building. As soon as he entered the doorway, Stokes lit up his KERNAL system again.

"Son of a bitch! I'm pinned down!" She yelled, as gunshots echoed behind her. "Goddamn snipers!"

"Becket, can you get to her?" Top asked frantically.

"I'm on it, Top." Becket responded, taking off on a jog down the darkened hallways. He left the building climbing out on the fire escape and landing hard down in an alleyway. Stokes was visible on the other side of a chain link fence, ducked behind a car. Every so often a rifle would crack and a bullet would ricochet off of her cover.

"Becket!" She yelled as he ducked behind a dumpster on the other side of the fence. "Thank God!"

"Are you alright?" He asked, glancing around. She was trapped in a large open courtyard, tall buildings surrounded her, making it easy for multiple snipers to be hiding anywhere. Shit.

"I'm alright," she replied, slightly unsteadily. "But this place is swarming with snipers. See if you can find a way to flank them. If I move, I'm dead."

A bullet ricocheted off of her cover to emphasize her point. Becket nodded, looking to his right. A door was open there, leading into a stairwell. Becket dove across the hall, landing hard on his stomach in the cover as sniper bullets ripped apart the doorframe. Becket scrambled to his feet and sprinted up the stairs, throwing open the metal door on the roof. A Replica sniper stood there, taken by surprise, he turned and pointed his large rifle at Becket, but he had already put him down with a trio of assault rifle bullets. Becket ran over, sliding behind a large air conditioner on his knee pads, and pulling the rifle towards him.

Becket props the rifle up in the narrow gap between the two A/C units, and closes his left eye, taking aim through the scope with his right. He lined up the cross hairs on a single sniper standing on the roof across the courtyard. He adjusted the scope slightly, before taking a deep breath, holding it, and lightly squeezing the trigger.

The rifle cracked loudly, blowing the head clean off the shoulders of the enemy sniper. The sniper slumped to the ground as blood poured out of the stump of his neck. Becket pulled the bolt back, ejecting the smoking brass jacket from the rifle, before pushing it back forward and cocking it again.

"My guess is that there's 4 to 5 snipers, Becket." Stokes said over the KERNAL.

"Copy." Becket responded, bringing his rifle around and searching for another target. He found one.

Crack.

Two down.

Crack. Crack.

Three and four.

A bullet ripped a chunk out of the air conditioner Becket was hiding behind, alerting him to the fact that they had found him. He crawled, staying below the concrete ledge that prevented people from falling off the roof, and moved to another position before popping up. According to the angle the bullet was from, the enemy should be…

There.

His body absorbed the recoil from the rifle as he killed the fifth sniper. Becket worked the bolt of his rifle again, searching for another target.

"I think that's all of 'em, Becket," Stokes said. "I'm gonna make a run for it."

"Roger."

"Keep heading to the rendezvous."

"Affirmative." Becket slung his sniper rifle over his shoulder as the wall behind him was blown up. A trio of Replicas stormed out, and Becket dealt with them using his assault rifle. He ejected the half-empty magazine and raided the enemy bodies, finding five fresh clips. He slammed one in his rifle and placed the other few on his vest. He also managed to grab a few bullets from the pockets of the Replica sniper and shoved those in his own pockets.

Becket moved through the blown apart wall, locating a staircase and taking them down into a loading dock. He leaned against the wall, peeking his head out to gather intel on the situation.

A lone Replica was going through a large toolbox, and an EPA walker sat unoccupied behind him. Becket leaned out, firing a pair of shots into the Replica, dropping him, before sprinting towards the walker and jumping inside. He pulled the cockpit closed, being coated in darkness for a moment before the screen lit up, revealing the room. His hands grasped the two joysticks nearby, and his feet rested on a pair of pedals.

"Alright… Let's do it." He muttered, repeating his new found mantra.

It took him a few moments to get used to piloting the walker, but before long he had blasted through the shutter door blocking the loading dock from the streets and stomped down the abandoned and destroyed streets.

"Damn it! I can't find her!" Top yelled over the KERNAL.

"You sure you saw someone?" Stokes asked.

"Of course I'm sure! She's gotta be around here somewhere!"

Replicas ran from him, shooting over their shoulders, but Becket gave them a taste of his chain guns and they didn't bother him again. As he stomped forward, he became aware of something dropping from the sky. It slammed into a parking garage. Becket had to get through that garage to get to the rendezvous, so he stomped inside. Then he saw his opponent moving down the ramp towards him.

Another EPA.

"Bring it you tin can." Becket muttered dangerously, firing his chain guns at the opponent. The bullets rocked the walker, as it began firing its guns at him. His cockpit shuddered slightly, and the screen flickered every so often as the bullets tore into the armored canopy.

"Warning. System critical." A cool female voice said inside the cockpit.

"Is that the best you got?!" Becket yelled, pressing the rockets button with his thumb. Four rockets flew outwards and towards his opponent, impacting heavily with the armored walker and igniting its missiles, blowing the walker apart.

Becket pushed the cover of his cockpit open, stepping outside of the damaged walker and moving forward through the parking garage. He entered a stairwell, taking the stairs down three at a time.

"I see her!" Top yelled triumphantly as sobbing filled Becket's ears. Becket paused, frowning slightly. Something about this seemed oddly familiar. Not to mention that the pressure that was usually in the back of his head had moved somewhere else. The smaller pressure was still off somewhere else. "I can help her. If she'll just let me..."

Becket started running down the stairs, something was very, very wrong here. He reached a door at the bottom, throwing it open and arriving in an alleyway.

"Something's… Wrong." Top said, unsure of himself suddenly. The sobs were suddenly cut off, and Becket's fresh prickled when he suddenly remembered.

Fox…

"Top! Get the fuck away from her now!" Becket yelled in his microphone as a female scream ripped into his ear, and his radio exploded into static. Becket turned to see Stokes run out and approach him from behind.

"Becket, let's go!" She yelled, and Becket nodded his head. The two soldiers took off running down the alley. They climbed a fence hurriedly, when a shattering sound drew their attention to above them. Top climbed out onto a walkway two stories above them, hurriedly backing away from the window and firing into the shattered glass.

_Stay with me._

Becket shook his head, as he heard a female voice whisper in his head in a very sexual tone.

_Stay with me forever._

"Don't touch me! Stay away from me!" Top roared, firing his SMG into the window as reality distorted and SHE appeared.

Alma.

She was stalking towards Top, who continued to fire at her, the bullets tearing into her and causing blood to blossom out of her.

_You're resisting me?! I HATE YOU!!!_

"C'mon Becket, Top needs help!" Stokes yelled as he ducked into another window and Alma disappeared. Becket snapped out of his fugue, and nodded as the pair took off running into the building. Becket kicked the door open and then the two soldiers sprinted up the stairs.

Top was standing at the top of the stairs, his SMG pointed down a dark hallway.

"Are you alright?" Stokes got out, as Becket stepped forward next to his First Sergeant and pointed his assault rifle down the hall.

"I saw her down the hall." Cedric 'Top' Griffin whispered, nodding his head. The three soldiers took a cautious step forward, their weapons trained down the hall.

Boom!

Top and Becket collapsed onto their knees, as Alma appeared down the hallway, stalking towards them slowly.

"What the fuck?!" Top growled, as the three soldiers were thrown backwards, Becket sliding across the ground before landing in a heap.

Alma approached Top first, staring at him slightly, before she slowly lifted her head to look at Becket.

"Found you." She purred seductively, teleporting in front of Becket.

Alma had changed. The corpse-look that she had before was gone, now she was full. Well nourished, very curvy… Becket was utterly infatuated with her.

"Becket!" Stokes yelled, as Alma bent at the waist, leaning down towards Becket who had an expression on his face that was a mix of glee and total fear. Top struggled to his feet.

"No!" He yelled, firing his SMG into Alma, causing blood to splatter down onto Becket. Alma stood up, spinning around, glaring death at Top. "Becket, Stokes get the fuck out of here!"

"You DARE interrupt me?! I HATE YOU!!" She shrieked at him.

"Stay back!" Top yelled, waving at Stokes who had gotten up to help. Top was firing into Alma, backing her away from Becket. "Get Becket and go!!"

Stokes did just that, sprinting to Becket and helping him up to his feet. Becket was covered in a cold sweat, and his breath was coming in ragged gasps. They stared down the hallway where Top continued to draw Alma away.

"Bring it, bitch!" He yelled, firing at her again. Suddenly, the psychic energies in the air increased tenfold, causing it to take on a sepia tint. Black tentacles emerged from where Alma stood a minute before, and Top's eyes widened as his gun clicked empty.

"Run Stokes, take Becket and run!" He yelled as the tentacles whipped towards Top, grabbing him.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!" Top roared in agony, before silencing with a quiet look on his face. His pain was gone, but his eyes opened wide when he knew what would happen next. "… Fuck me."

_Die._

Top was liquefied with a scream, his essence being absorbed into the tentacles that slowly shrank, returning into Alma, who continued to look extremely sexy to Becket. She turned, staring him in the eyes, her entire nude body on display for him to enjoy.

_You can't hide from me._

She invaded his head with a sexual smile on her face.

_Watch us. _The voice in Becket's head responded, and Alma's eyes widened in surprise, before she disappeared, reality warping around her as she did.

"Oh God…" Stokes muttered. "Oh my God… Griffin…"

She moved forward, releasing Becket who leaned against the wall heavily, watching her. She walked forward to where Top last stood, where now only his dog tags and KERNAL system lie, smoking slightly.

"What the fuck! What the fucking fuck! FUCK!" She yelled, stomping around, her ponytail shaking angrily. "What the fuck is going on?!"

Becket had no answers, only taking deep breaths to calm himself down and lower his heart rate.

"Let's get out of here, Becket." Stokes said quietly, and Becket nodded. The pair of them clambered out of the window, onto the fire escape, and then took it downwards, sliding down the ladder and landing on the ground. The APC was there with Sergeants Manny Morales and Harold Keegan were waiting for them. Keegan still wore his bloodstained and bandaged Kevlar from earlier that night.

"You two look like you could use a ride," Manny quipped, as the team loaded into the APC. Their driver looked at them, then out the open door. "Where's Top?"

"Just get us the fuck out of here, Sergeant." Stokes said quietly. Manny glanced at her, astounded for a second, before climbing back in the drivers seat with a stream of curses in Spanish, closing the door and driving the APC away. Becket sat in silence, staring down at the floor.

If he hadn't been so useless… Maybe Top would still be alive.

Maybe…

_Maybe whatever happened to Top would've happened to you. _The voice in his head reasoned. Becket shrugged. It was more than likely.

"Lieutenant... What the hell is going on here?" Keegan asked, looking between Stokes and Becket.

"Fuck if I know, but we're stuck in the middle of it." She replied with a sigh, checking her weapon.

"You might now, but I know someone who does." Becket added in, causing Stokes and Keegan to look at him. Stokes sighed, already knowing what the answer was gong to be.

"Snake Fist."

…

**A/N: Go to YouTube and search for Miniature Replica Soldier. That video is probably the best advertisement for DLC I've ever seen.**

**4,500+ hits. I'm averaging 500 hits per chapter recently, but only average 2 reviews. Discrepancy much? Remedy this and review. Do it for me. **

**Music Used:**

**Warehouse: **"Desolation" from Total Annihilation

**Plane Crash: **"Requiem for Ravenholm" from Half-Life 2

**Streets / Office Building: **"Pripyat" from Call of Duty 4

**Remnant Battle Theme: **"Decisive Battle" from Final Fantasy VI

**EPA Battle: **"Jeep Defense" from Call of Duty 4

**Sniper Ambush:** "Encounter" from Metal Gear Solid 4

**Joyride in a Walker: **"Klaxon Beat" from Half-Life

**Corpse Alma's Theme: **"Those Chosen by the Planet" from Final Fantasy VII


	18. F3AR Interval 02 : Consternation

**F.3.A.R.**

**Interval 02**

**Consternation**

SITUATION:

Contact with F.E.A.R. commander has been reestablished.

Test subject Alma Wade has been located several miles from F.E.A.R. operative's current position. In addition, another powerful psychic presence has been discovered. It is unsure if this new presence is a threat.

Although dead, Paxton Fettel has somehow appeared in front of

MISSION:

F.E.A.R. operative is to locate and eliminate Alma Wade.

---

"Fe…" I managed to stammer, my brain instantly turned to mush with Paxton Fettel's appearance, reducing me to a muttering, incomprehensible wreck. "Fettel…"

He smirked, a look I always hated seeing in him, and crossed his arms.

"What are you talking about?" Holiday asked me, turning his head between looking at me and the doorframe that Fettel was leaning against. "You're scaring me, bro."

"What are you doing here? How are you still alive…?" I asked, still staring at the man, my brother, who I had spent the entire length of the previous night attempting to kill. He smiled again, holding up a finger to his lips, as if telling me to be quiet. Something touched my elbow, and I turned away from the doorframe for the first time all night, turning to see Jin holding my arm, terror evident in her eyes.

"Are you alright?" She asked, looking at Fettel. "You keep staring at that empty door."

Empty… Door?

I turned my head back, seeing Fettel lounging against the right side of the doorframe, watching me intently. Could they not see him?

What the hell was going on?

Fettel motioned for me to follow him, disappearing into the hallway.

"Wait here for a minute." I muttered, walking after Fettel, my hand on my Beretta. I was aware of low mutters exchanged between Jin and Holiday, but ignored them and followed Fettel out into the dark and torn up hallway. He was marching down it with resolve, not even turning to look if I was following him.

I did, walking carefully down the hall, looking back and forth for traps or enemies; after all, I wasn't completely trusting of Fettel. Especially since we had been trying to kill each other the previous night.

I pushed the slightly ajar door open with my mind, moving slowly into the lobby area. Fettel stood before me, staring at me as I stepped forward, my hand still on my pistol. A million questions exploded like fireworks in my head, but only one pushed its way out of my lips.

"How are you still alive?" I said quickly, before catching myself. Fettel chuckled slightly, shaking his head. He finally brought his head back up to look at me, continuing to laugh silently. He brought a hand up, to his forehead, as if he was checking his temperature, but he pushed his short bangs back up on his head, and I recoiled slightly.

A bullet hole was there, in his forehead, a ring of blood surrounding it.

"I'm not," he said simply, letting his hair fall down over his head again. "You saw to that."

"Then how are you here? How come I can see you?" I demanded, pulling my Beretta out of its holster and holding it at my side. Fettel shrugged slightly, smirking again.

"What are you going to do with that?" He asked, his voice full of mirth. "I'm already dead."

"I can think of a few things." I growled, and Fettel sighed, brushing the sleeves of his leather jacket off.

"I'll put this as simply as I can," he said, pacing around. "When a powerful psychic dies, psychic power seeps from their body and eventually disappears. Sometimes it reforms, creating what people call ghosts. These after-images are nothing, however, merely driven by a simple need. Be it warnings or revenge. However… When there is a powerful psychic, they can focus their dissipated power together and create an after-image that is fully functioning and capable. Only other psychics can sense that after-image."

"So," I said slowly, holstering my pistol. "You're an after-image. Meaning only I can see you."

"Correct."

"And you're here to kill me."

"Wrong."

I blinked, causing Fettel to grin. His statement caught me off guard.

"What?" I asked, dumbly. "What do you want then?"

"I'm here to help you," he said, his face turning serious. "I never wanted to release that creature from the Vault."

Now my mind really did melt. What did he mean? Wasn't that why I was dispatched to kill him? What the hell was going on? In two minutes, the after-image of my dead brother had taken my entire perception of the world and flipped it on its head.

"Armacham tricked you," he said. "They wanted to keep the creature alive, keep using her to fuel their future experiments."

"The creature… You mean Alma?" I asked, but Fettel shook his head. Suddenly, humming came from behind one of the tall desks.

A child's humming.

Then she appeared. She was still wearing that red dress that had scared me senseless last night, skipping slightly, clutching an old doll by the arm.

"This is Alma," Fettel said as she skipped out in front of the two of us. "Remember what I said about after-images?"

This is Alma? This little girl? Then…

"What the hell is that corpse thing?" I demanded, as Alma turned to look at me, her raven locks falling from her face.

"Alma's psychic power is incredible, nothing can be compared to it, and no one living or dead has ever held such power before."

"Which is why she was the candidate for Project Origin." I finished, and Alma nodded.

"When she died, she formed her after-image," Fettel said, stepping forward and placing his hands on the shoulders of Alma. "Which is this little girl you see before you."

I cocked an eyebrow, still taking in all of this information. I glanced between little Alma, looking up at me expectantly, and Fettel, who was staring at me with his analyzing eyes.

"Then… What the hell is that thing Harlan Wade freed from the Vault?" I asked, repeating myself from before.

"As I stated before, Alma's psychic energy is enormous. When she formed her after-image, latent psychic power remained and hung around her corpse," Fettel explained, rubbing Alma's shoulders. "This latent psychic energy was filled with what you felt in the Vault. Fear. Hatred. Anger."

"What are you saying?" I stepped forward, cocking my head to the right. "There are TWO Almas?"

"Not quite," little Alma said, stepping forward. "The body in the Vault is driven purely by instinct. Hatred and anger are fueling it."

"Specifically it's attempting to further increase its psychic power," Fettel said, crossing his arms. "It is hunting and absorbing people with powerful psychic presences."

"Which is why it was hunting me in that warehouse…" I said softly, realizing the truth. Fettel nodded, as Alma raided the destroyed desks looking for something, humming to herself softly.

"Correct. But she's no longer after you." Alma located a pencil and grabbed a scrap piece of paper off of the ground, sitting down and beginning to draw a picture.

"Why? What's she hunting now?" I asked, but as soon as the sentence left my mouth my eyes opened in realization. "That powerful psychic…"

"Michael Becket." Alma said, not looking up from her drawing.

"He's not as strong as you or I, and that creature is becoming constantly more powerful. It is developing a personality, and it is using it to get closer to him," Fettel said, leaning on a desk. "Not to mention that he is already slowly losing his mind, a side effect from implanting the psychic power inside of him."

"What do I have to do?" I asked slowly.

"Finish what I tried to do. What she wanted me to do," Fettel gestured to Alma, who was drawing what looked to be a large blob with two stick figures doing battle below. "Kill the body."

"You need to be a psychic in order to kill the body," Alma said, finally looking up at me. "It's only a shell, none of the organs are working. Therefore, you need to tear the psychic power that's controlling it from the shell."

"Destroy it before it can take its revenge." Fettel said.

"Revenge?" I echoed, blinking stupidly. "What revenge?"

"I didn't want it to happen," Alma looked at me again, tears slowly filling her eyes. "I didn't want to hurt everybody. Just a few people."

"The creature doesn't realize that," Fettel said, walking forward. "It wants to kill everyone. And by everyone, I mean e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e."

"Which is why we believe she's absorbing the other psychics," Alma chimed in, rubbing a sleeve over her eyes. "She's trying to get powerful enough to destroy everything."

"You need to destroy the body, and if necessary, kill Becket," Fettel said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You're the only one who can still do it. Help your family, brother."

And with that, Fettel disappeared into a black ash, floating away on the wind. Alma got up, staring at me for a moment.

"My baby…" She whispered, before running towards me and throwing her arms around my legs. I stood there awkwardly for a moment, patting her on the head slowly before she, too, faded away on the wind. I shook my head, closing my eyes for a moment and lowering my head.

"Don't move." A voice said slowly, and I felt the touch of cold steel against my head. I spun quickly, disarming my opponent, and flipping him to the ground. I spun my newly acquired SMG around, bringing it to the ready.

A large force of Delta operatives stood in a similar position, their own weapons trained on me.

Betters stood with them, unarmed, as did Jin, Passalaqua, and Holiday.

"Drop it, mother fucker!" One of the soldiers yelled, and I cursed myself mentally for being so incredibly stupid. I was so involved in my conversation with Alma and Fettel that I failed to notice an ambush coming up right behind me. Dammit!

I dropped my SMG, raising my hands as four Deltas sprinted up and restrained me, taking my pistol and placing a crown-looking device on my head. I reached out to Jin, who was looking at me sadly.

But couldn't.

What…?

My ability to sense the Creature and Becket disappeared as well. Somehow that crown thing was tampering with my psychic powers.

"Take him away." The Delta Commander said, and the, basically, army marched me out of the police station into a large armored trailer-looking thing. Betters, Jin, Holiday, and Passalaqua did not make eye contact with me as I passed them. I looked down dejectedly, as the Deltas marched me up and into the mobile command center. The soft glow of computers and numerous technicians filled the inside of the trailer. I was walked through one computer area, and then a much smaller, nearly empty one.

"You're too dangerous to have around, prototype." A Delta said, tossing me unceremoniously into what looked like a port-a-potty made of steel in the back of the RV. I slammed against the wall, turning around to see the door slam and lock in front of my face.

I failed. I was furious.

How the fuck did they find out about me? Why did they capture me?

The Creature would destroy everything. Didn't they realize that!? Of course they didn't. They were mere humans… Insects compared to us.

I shook my head, clearing those thoughts away. I had to get out of here somehow, get out of here and do what I had to do.

Save the world.

… Kinda clichéd.

The RV started moving, and I heard the low murmur of voices. I sat there, in the box, for fifteen more minutes when I heard the bolt get pulled away from the door, and I got to my feet. The door opened, and Betters and Jin looked down at me.

"Let's go, bud," Betters said, uncuffing me while Jin removed the crown from my head. "We don't have much time."

"What's going on?" I asked, as I was freed and my teammates moved over to the weapon rack in the now abandoned command center portion of the RV. "Why are you helping me?"

"An anonymous call came in revealing that you were the first prototype of Project Origin." Jin said, handing me an SMG and several magazines of ammunition.

"We believe it was from Aristide, who is still out there," Betters said, handing me a radio as well. "We believe she's going to try to use you and Alma as bargaining chips with the Government."

"You didn't answer my second question." I said, taking the radio and plugging the headset into my ear.

"Because we all don't want to fucking die," Came the voice of Douglas Holiday, as he got out from his hiding spot against the wall, clutching an SMG. "The rest of my force doesn't seem to agree with us, however."

"Which is why we're busting you out of here," Betters said, hefting an SMG in one hand and a laptop in the other. "And we're going with you."

"We're the only ones who know about Alma, and, if you're right, you're the only one who can stop her." Jin said.

"My buddy Den Mother is going to be our eyes for the movements of the Delta forces." Betters explained, as he threw open the door.

"You ready?" Jin asked softly, looking at me. She had a sniper rifle slung across her back. I smiled back, not offering a response, and leapt out of the moving vehicle, rolling on the pavement in order to soften the blow of the landing.

I got to my feet slowly, breathing in deeply and relishing the fact that I could feel my psychic powers flowing through my body again. My eyes snapped open as my three teammates approached me, looking at me expectantly.

"They're over there." I said, following the two immense psychic powers with my mind. Without another word, the four of us jogged off into the city.

Towards the Creature. And Becket.

I only hoped that we could reach him first.

…

**A/N: Lots of dialogue this chapter. Lots of explaining. Meh. **

**5,000+ Hits. Thanks for reading guys.**

**Music Used:**

**Fettel's Theme: **"Wesker's Theme" from Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

**The Explanation: **"Who… Are You?" from Final Fantasy VII

**Little Alma's Theme:** "Theme of Laura" from Silent Hill 2 (lol clichés)

**What You Must Do: **"On That Day… Five Years Ago" from Final Fantasy VII

**Surrounded by Deltas: **"Cornered! (Orchestral)" from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

**Captured: **"Shinra Theme" from Final Fantasy VII

**True Allies: **"Terran Theme" from StarCraft


	19. PO Interval 05 : Provocation

**Project Origin**

**Interval 05**

**Provocation**

SITUATION:

Alma has killed and absorbed First Sergeant Griffin; Dark Signal operatives were powerless to stop her.

Genevieve Aristide has been spotted inside Wade Elementary with an Armacham hit squad on her tail. Snake Fist is inside the building as well.

MISSION:

Dark Signal operatives are to secure Wade Elementary and rescue Snake Fist.

Secondary objective is to detain Genevieve Aristide.

---

"So what happened out there, Lieutenant?" Keegan asked, breaking the tense silence that had dominated the ride in the APC. "I've never seen you shook up like this before."

"She killed Griffin." Stokes said emotionlessly, staring at the metal floor as the APC shuddered and accelerated.

"Who did?" Keegan asked again, leaning forward slightly, the cheap leather of the bench that he and Becket sat on squeaking slightly.

"Alma." Stokes replied, causing silence to once again fill the inside of the armored personnel carrier. Becket felt a strange pang in his heart at the mention of her name.

"You sure about that?" Keegan asked, breaking the silence once again.

"I'm not sure about anything anymore." Stokes responded tiredly, shaking her head.

"Dealing with pissed-off dead chicks is a little outside my area of expertise." Keegan said with a slight chuckle, but his humor died right after it left his lips. Becket continued staring at the floor, deep in thought, while Stokes sighed.

"Let's just focus on finding… Snake Fist," she said, exasperated at the stupid code name their new friend came up with. "This'll go faster if we split up. Keegan, How's that wound? You positive you're up for this?"

"Nothing I can't handle, Lieutenant." Keegan said with a wink, hefting his SMG as the APC slowed down, and with a hiss, the back door lowered into a ramp.

"All right, then, you're on recon. Don't go picking any fights," Stokes said, before turning to look at the sergeant sitting silently. "Becket, you're with me."

Becket looked up, his eyebrows contracting slightly. What was she trying to do?

_Don't worry about it. Just focus on the job at hand. _

Becket nodded, silently following what the voice in his head ordered. Keegan paused at the backdoor, flashing another smile and gave a thumbs-up to his weary teammates.

"See you down range." He said before stomping down the metal ramp onto the street.

"Keegan," Stokes started, her image flashing at the bottom of Becket's KERNAL system. "Remember, recon only. Don't go picking any fights."

"Don't worry, L-T," Keegan's face replaced Stokes', and his voice filtered through their earpieces. "I'm a lover, not a fighter."

Becket lifted his head to look at Stokes, and stifled a scream.

Stokes was no longer there. A bloodied skeleton sat in her place, blood splattered on the steel wall and floor around her. The APC slowed to a stop, and Becket twisted his head to look at Manny so quickly his neck cracked.

A bloody skeleton fell out of the front seat, lying on the floor, its jaw open in terror.

"What the fuck?!" Becket yelled, hopping to his feet.

He felt cold hands wrap around his waist from behind, and his heart stopped when he heard the whisper.

"Got you." Alma purred seductively, her breath hot on his ear.

Becket yelled, as Stokes touched his shoulder, jarring him out of his dream.

"Becket?" She asked, looking at him intently through the blue lenses of her KERNAL. "You okay?"

"Yeah…" Becket said, wiping the cold sweat off of his forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a nightmare."

"I don't blame you," she said, before standing up and staring at the opening back door. "But let's go Becket. We have to find Snake Fist before Armacham does."

Becket nodded, all too aware that he felt the lingering heat of Alma's breath on his ear, and that his heart was pounding incredibly fast.

_Keep it together, "Romeo"._

The voice in his head was mocking him now.

_It's been awhile since I've read Shakespeare, but I don't remember Juliet being the insane corpse of a powerful psychic._

"Shut up." Becket mumbled so Stokes couldn't hear him. The voice obliged, for now. The two soldiers scrambled out of the APC, turning to watch Manny raise the back door and drive off into the night with a roar. Becket and Stokes turned to look at the new location they were in.

"This just keeps getting better," Stokes said, shaking her head at the building jutting out of the darkness in front of them. "Why's he hanging out in an elementary school?"

Becket didn't respond, but continued staring at the school as if it were an abstract painting. He had a dazed look on his face, as if he was trying to solve a complicated puzzle.

"Becket!" Stokes yelled, and Becket jumped slightly, turning to look at her. "Let's get inside."

"Right." Becket said, nodding and wrapping his hands around his assault rifle. The two soldiers approached the front door, and tried pulling the doors open. They wouldn't budge.

"Guess we're not getting in that way." Commented Stokes, looking around. Becket leaned over the stairwell, finding a small grate on the ground.

"Stokes," he called, vaulting over the handrail and pulling the grate up. It was a small pit, and a single window was beneath. "I found our entry point."

Stokes walked up, touching her radio.

"Keegan, check in."

"Nothing to report so far, Lieutenant. Except for another damn headache. I'm approaching the school from the south."

"Roger, we're about to enter. Stay sharp." Stokes said as Becket hopped down, kicking the window in, and landing inside a small classroom. The class was dark, but the small tables and brightly decorated walls told him that this was, indeed, an elementary school. Becket activated the flashlight on his KERNAL and moved through the class, weapon at the ready. Stokes followed suit, pausing to look at the cubbyholes. Each one had a name, and had a deformed cartoon of an animal, either a ladybug, bluebird, or a tree frog.

"Ladybugs…? Bluebirds?" Stokes asked, looking at the animals next to the name tags.

"Must be reading levels or something." Becket responded, before the pair of them moved to the door. They opened the door and secured different sides of the hallway. When they were satisfied, they moved down the partially lit hall. The hall was in stark contrast to the calm classroom, it was actually quite jarring.

Most of the lockers were broken open, swaying slightly on their final hinges, the creaks adding to the already oppressive atmosphere. All of the windows were shattered inward, taking a bit of the concrete frame around the window with it. They moved slowly through the rubble, Stokes pointed out something of interest.

"Armacham," she said simply, investigating the dead body of the ATC commando. "We're on the right track."

"It's hard to tell if these walls were damaged in the explosion or the firefight," Becket said, looking at the pitted and ruptured walls that ran down the hall. "Or maybe both."

The pair continued down the hallway, the only surprise being a flock of birds that flew out of a small hole in the roof, taking Stokes by surprise and causing the lieutenant to jump and curse slightly.

The pair finally found a door. It was a simple, nondescript door, like the tens of others they had passed to find this one. Becket felt something strange about this portal, strangeness that was only intensified when Stokes' KERNAL went out and Becket's flashed as if threatening to do the same. He reached out with a gloved hand and pushed the

Flash.

door open. Now, where there should have been a classroom, there was a field as far as the eye could see. Desks and chairs jutted out of the ground every so often, incredibly strange things to see in a place like this.

And her tree was here, the swing slowly moving in the wind. Becket moved forward, towards it.

He felt eyes on his back, an uncomfortable feeling that made his stomach tighten. Becket turned slowly.

She was there. Watching him.

Flash.

Becket was back in the classroom, staring at the blank wall where there had been a door only moments before. He stepped forward, sliding his hand over the smooth plaster. He found no traces of a door, hell, he didn't find any evidence that a door was even there in the first place.

"Becket!" Stokes called over the KERNAL.

"Stokes," Becket responded, knocking on the wall. It felt sturdy. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. I must have blacked out for a second. When I looked up, you were gone."

"I could've sworn there was a door here a minute ago…" Becket mumbled, half to himself.

"I'm going to backtrack and look for a way through." The lieutenant reported, and Becket agreed, moving deeper through the classroom. He entered another short hallway when he heard it, a series of short, sporadic slaps on a keyboard. Becket raised his assault rifle, his adrenaline kicking in, the heart pumping quickly and sending gallons of the fear juice through his body.

He rounded the corner, entering a music room. Numerous instruments lined the walls, and a large piano dominated the center of the room, a light shining from above onto it. The piano itself was beautiful, unmarred by the explosion that had devastated everything else so far. Becket stepped inside, his weapon pointed forward.

A man stood before the piano, smashing down on the ivory keys without a hint of rhyme or reason. Becket approached, his weapon still raised, moving silently behind the man pounding away.

His feet crushed on some broken glass, and the pounding abruptly stopped, causing Becket to curse silently.

The pianist was indeed another creature, as Becket feared, and it spun around quickly and launched its attack. Becket dove out of the way just as the creature bowled through a bookcase, splintering the wood and sending papers flying everywhere.

Becket rolled up to one knee, lining up the creature in his sights and squeezing off a few shots.

The muzzle flashes made spots dance in front of Becket's vision, and firing a weapon in such closed quarters murdered his ears, but he pulled the trigger twice more.

If the creature was damaged, it showed no sign that it had been so. The bullet holes were all visible, blood running down from each of the ragged holes. Becket lifted his head from his sight, looking at the creature in surprise. It stomped towards him slowly, allowing the Delta enough time to thumb the switch triggering how the weapon fired.

The creature roared and sprinted towards Becket, who narrowly avoided it a second time, and he lifted up his weapon, braced himself, and unloaded the remnants of his magazine into the back of the creature.

It stopped partway through a turn, collapsing to the ground with a soft sigh as blood pooled around its body. Becket took an unsteady breath, drawing his sidearm and firing two more shots into the torso of the limp monster. It was dead, and the shots caused more blood to explode out of the impact points.

Becket quickly stepped over the body, crossing the room quickly and exiting, taking a moment to slide a filing cabinet out of his way.

He stepped into a dark hallway, squinting deep into the murky black.

He thought he could see a man standing in the hall, but that thought soon faded from Becket's mind. He activated his flashlight and took a step forward, his hands on his assault rifle as he did so.

A huge shockwave crashed through the hallway, over the din of the metal lockers slamming against each other, Becket could see papers, trash, and a multitude of other objects being thrown towards him as well.

Becket's body temperature dropped immensely, and he fought the urge to curl up in the fetal position and wait for it to be over.

_Move. Are you a soldier or some little kid?_

He was a man. Becket stepped forward tentatively, his eyes searching every hiding spot for the boogeyman to jump out and ambush him from.

He rounded a corner, taking into consideration that there was blood covering the floor, the lockers, and, hell, even the ceiling. This macabre scene was made all the more terrifying by the single fluorescent light hanging down, flickering slightly in the semi-darkness, revealing everything then taking it away just as quickly. Becket held his breath and stepped forward, his boot causing ripples to emerge from the puddle of red liquid he just stepped in.

The light flickered slightly, causing Becket to pause and reorient himself in the blood covered room.

Darkness again. Becket stealthily stepped forward, his hands on his assault rifle, the KERNAL's flashlight began flickering wildly.

Flicker. Flicker.

He felt breathing on his neck. Hot breath that was more sexual than anything else. Becket spun around, his sweaty hands nearly slipping off of the cool metal of the gun he clutched in his hands.

Flicker.

The light revealed nothing in the hall, save the same blood stains that had been there before.

_Just your imagination._

"I know," Becket agreed with the voice, wiping a forearm across his brow. "But… It felt so real."

He turned, stepping forward again when the light flashed again.

Skeletal arms reached out, groping wildly for him as a mess of dark hair swung wildly in the darkness as her head shuddered out of control, drool flinging wildly from her gnashing lips.

Becket screamed, a howl of pure terror as he fired a few shots into the body of Alma before the second voice in his head could convince him to accept her.

The light flickered again and then gave up the ghost, plunging the room into total darkness.

Becket gulped in air heavily, sweat trickling down his face. He lifted an uneasy hand to wipe the moisture away and found that it was trembling too badly for him to even do it.

"Just… Just my imagination, huh?" He asked, but the first voice in his head was silent, knowing that it was wrong. Becket groped in front of him, taking a few short steps. He eventually found the wall and, using his hand to stabilize himself, left that hallway. He slammed into a door several minutes later, and chuckled slightly, groping for the handle before pulling the door open.

This hallway was surprisingly lit, and Becket moved down it quickly, his weapon ready.

Flash.

She appeared, walking towards him the way she always did, her arms spread. Her breath coming in short gasps from the excitement. Becket lifted his rifle, taking a step back.

"Get back!" He said, his voice cracking and trembling. "Stay away from me!"

She teleported towards him, tossing his gun away like it was nothing and grabbing his head in both of her hands, as if she was trying to crush it, she then tried to bend her face to his, her cracked lips wide and salivating.

She was trying to kiss him.

Her sunken eyes bored into his soul. Corpse Alma was back, and that was all the convincing Becket needed.

"No!" He yelled, more powerfully than he felt, shoving a hand in her face. She howled in disappointment, redoubling her efforts as she ground her nude and malnourished body against his shamelessly, panting with anticipation. "Get… The Fuck… OFF!!"

He pushed her with all of his might, sending her backwards a few steps. Alma stood, confused for a moment, before she howled with rage again and before Becket knew it, he was flying sideways through the air, smashing hard into the left wall. He grunted as he dented the drywall, and cried out when he was lifted up to the roof, his body tearing up the drywall on the way. Alma stepped forward, staring at him intently through her long, black hair.

"Why?" She asked, tentatively, before finding her backbone and yelling at him. "WHY?!"

Becket yelled as he felt the psychic pressure double, pushing him deeper in the wall.

"Can't you see me?" She asked, sobbing slightly before Becket's vision flashed before his eyes. When it cleared, she was back.

Sexy Alma.

"Can't you see me?" She repeated, this time with a sexual purr, her body on full display for him and him alone. For a moment, Becket forgot about the pain, the mission, Snake Fist, he forgot about everything. Right now, the only thing that mattered was her.

_Stay with her forever. She's all yours now. _The second voice in his head told him.

_It's true; it would be a pretty cozy life… I mean, check out that body, Mikey! _The third voice offered his two cents.

_Don't do it! Fight back!! _Commanded the first voice in his head, and it did it so powerfully that Becket was surprised. Suddenly, the pressure vanished, causing Becket to fall to the ground in a heap. Alma stumbled backwards a few inches, shaking her head from side to side wildly before disappearing.

_You can't hide from me… _Alma whispered in his head, as Becket hauled himself to his feet, coughing slightly. He stared warily down the hallway, as if expecting Alma to spring out of nowhere and attack him again.

Becket eventually gathered the courage to retrieve his gun and move forward slowly, opening the doors at the end of the hallway tentatively, swinging his assault rifle to the left and then the right.

"Hey guys," the KERNAL system lit up with Keegan's face. "I hit a wall of Armacham fuckheads over by the admin building! I could really use some help here..."

"We're on our way." Stokes responded. Becket responded similarly and started running down the hall, the fear of Alma being pushed into the back of his mind. There were much bigger issues at hand.

Becket sprinted across a courtyard, avoiding the still smoldering wreckage of a crashed helicopter, and kicking a pair of doors open. Keegan and Stokes were there already, taking cover behind a corner as gunfire would pepper the drywall every so often, tearing chunks out of the wall.

"Hey, nice of you to join us!" Keegan yelled jokingly, as he ducked back to avoid being hit by a lucky bullet.

"Becket!" Stokes called out, as she blindly fired around the corner, before pulling back into cover quickly. Becket sprinted the short distance and slid across the opening quickly, getting into cover with his teammates before bullets would've torn him apart.

And then it happened.

As Becket got to his feet, he realized he was no longer in the hallway. In fact, he was no longer in the elementary school at all.

He was back in that meadow.

"Becket?" Keegan asked hesitantly, as Becket turned his head to find out he wasn't alone this time. "What are you doing here?"

Becket felt a surge of jealousy. Why was Keegan here?! She was his!!

Suddenly, Keegan cried out and collapsed to his knees, and as Becket bent over to assist him he felt someone grab him roughly. Becket spun to see the one person he didn't want to see.

"Get off!" He yelled, shoving Alma's emaciated body away from him. She stumbled back, groaning in disappointment from being away from her prey. Becket stared at the disgusting corpse body that was hunting him, not the deliciously curvy one of the woman that he loved.

Flash.

Becket's world flashed white, and as his vision cleared, he found himself back in the school.

"Becket!" Stokes yelled at him again, causing Becket to glance downwards. She was holding Keegan, who was basically having a spasm on the ground. "Jesus, at least you're okay. I have to get Keegan to the APC."

"Should I go with you?" Becket asked, shaking his head, dissipating the numerous voices that were floating around inside his mind.

"No, Becket, this… Snake Fist guy may be our best shot of getting out of this. Do what you can to bring him out alive."

"Roger, L-T." Becket said, picking, what he believed, was the most logical voice in his mind to echo. He stepped out of cover, and was strangely not shot at. Apparently Stokes had dealt with all of the ATC soldiers, or they had gotten bored and wandered off. Becket moved quickly through the area, entering a large cafeteria area. A group of ATC soldiers attacked him, probably remnants from the doorway, but Becket killed them easily. He stepped over their bodies, when the crackling of one of their radios drew his attention.

"All units, head to the nurse's office!" Colonel Vanek yelled over the radio. "We got her cornered!"

Becket moved on, having a new destination in mind; the nurse's office. He passed a bathroom door, but the flames licking the doorframe deterred him from entering. He kicked a half-welded shut door open with a bit of force, ending up in a hallway with a sign directing him to the nurse's office. Becket walked to it quickly, opening the door and stepping inside.

Genevieve Aristide was not here. Nor was Snake Fist.

"Becket, I've got a clear window back to the APC," Stokes radioed in. "I'm gonna take it. Keegan's doing a little better, but he's still too out of it to fight. Stokes out."

_There's no one here. _

_They lied to us._

_Kill them. Make them pay. _

"Shut up… Shut up… All of you…" Becket whispered, covering his eyes. He opened them again to reveal that nothing changed. The soft glow of a computer monitor drew his attention, however, and he approached it curiously.

A program was still highlighted, and Becket clicked on again. Suddenly, the floor shuddered, and the linoleum floor of the nurse's office began sinking into the ground. It stopped after a few moments, landing in a heavy industrial, lab-like area. Very similar to the 'hospital' that the soldiers had awoken in earlier.

_And where Redd and Fox died._

"That too."

"I'm not going to argue with you about this. Give me the correction offsets!" Genevieve Aristide's voice caused Becket to turn his head to look over at the numerous computer monitors on the wall. He saw a static-filled image of a woman, most likely Aristide, threatening a man.

"The offsets are useless! This isn't going to work!" The man responded, and Becket recognized his voice as Snake Fist.

"It has to. Don't you understand what's at stake? Maybe you should go take a look outside."

"You won't be able to contain her. Her power is already intensifying. It's only going to get worse."

"We have to risk it. There's no other choice."

"There IS another choice. That's what I've been trying to tell you. We can destroy her!" Snake Fist said, but backed off when Aristide revealed a pistol and shoved it in his chest.

"Enough! Give me those FUCKING offsets!"

"Okay, okay... Shit... Take 'em." Snake Fist said dejectedly, handing Aristide a disk.

"You'll thank me when this is over." Aristide said, leaving the frame.

"You'll be dead by then." Snake Fist said softly.

"Have a little faith, Terry."

"I do have faith… That you'll be dead by then."

Becket walked across the dark room, his rubber-soled boots making little noise on the metal floor. He opened a few doors, stepping through them silently and checking all of his corners to make sure he wouldn't be surprised by an ATC commando hiding in there.

He eventually found an airlock, and glancing inside revealed two things. First off, Colonel Vanek left most of his hit squad upstairs. Second off, the good Colonel and his lacky were busy attempting to blowtorch their way through the other sealed door.

"You sure did kill a lot of my guys. I'm impressed. I've never seen anything like that. You're a goddamn killing machine." Vanek said, turning as he noticed Becket for the first time. "I guess we're at an impass."

"I guess you can say that." Becket responded, pressing a few keys on the airlock control and preparing to open the door on his side. The voices told him to do so.

"You must be hurtin' for some hurtin'," Vanek said as the door began to open, and he pumped his shotgun and lifted it. "Come on in, I've been eating lollipops like you since I was a little girl."

The door opened, and Becket barreled inside, roughly grabbing Vanek's shotgun and forcing it up, not allowing the colonel to pull the trigger. Vanek grunted in surprise, and began fighting back, pushing the shotgun back down to blast Becket apart.

"Fucking…" Vanek growled, panting in exhaustion as he and Becket wrestled for the gun in this life and death match. "You fucking bitch!"

Becket made no response, instead putting all of his effort into pulling the gun up…

… Right underneath Vanek's chin.

"Wait…" Vanek panted, his eyes opening in terror as he realized what was happening. "Wait. Please… Please!"

"You talk too much. Let's fix that." Becket said calmly, pulling the trigger. BOOM!

Brains, blood, and skull fragments peppered the inside of the chamber as Vanek's head disintegrated. Becket used the shotgun to kill the two soldiers in the airlock as well, and they were dead before Vanek's headless body, blood squirting out of the neck, hit the ground.

Becket stood there for a moment, glancing from side to side as blood covered the floor of the airlock. Suddenly, the door on the other side beeped and slid open, and Becket walked through, shotgun at the ready. He walked past an empty security station when he saw it.

A faint shimmer… Like heat rising off of blacktop on a hot summer day. But before Becket could look into it anymore, it vanished.

"Just seeing shit." He mumbled, moving on. Eventually, he reached a small office, where a portly man with long, greasy black hair and an equally unkempt beard was seated. He looked up in surprise as Becket entered, shotgun first, and then visibly relaxed when he recognized him.

"Sergeant Becket!" Snake Fist said surprised. "You made it! I thought I was toast."

"Snake Fist I presume." Becket said, lowering his shotgun and looking the computer analyst up and down. He wore a wrinkled white lab coat with a strange anime t-shirt underneath that Becket had never heard of. Heavy metal music was playing in the background, not loud enough to be an annoyance, but loud enough to be audible.

"Terry. Terry Halford," the technician said, extending his hand and taking in Becket's Kevlar and camouflage. "Wait. Did you hear something?"

Becket listened intently for a moment before shaking his head.

"Guess it was nothing then," Halford said, before sitting in his computer chair and plugging a few keys in. "With lieutenant Stokes' help, I was able to establish a link to the computer in your armored personnel carrier. I'm uploading all my files right now. We can go over them on the way."

"Go? Go where?" Becket asked, rubbing his nose. Halford held up his hand.

"Don't pick your nose," he said, gesturing at the video camera on the roof. "She can see everything, but can't hear anything so say whatever you want about the FUCKING BITCH!!" He yelled at the camera with a smile and a wave.

_This guy is crazier than you are._

"I'm not crazy. Not yet." Becket mumbled under his breath.

_To each his own, Mikey._

"Looks like the file transfer's over," said Halford, standing up. "We can take the elevator in the main lobby."

"What does that mean?" Becket asked, pointing at a flashing red light on the wall. Halford turned, and then paled slightly, before turning back to his computer and frantically typing.

"Uh oh. That ain't good," he said, glancing at Becket. "Replica soldiers are pouring into the facility. They must be converging on your telesthetic signature. You're becoming a magnet for them."

"What do we do?" Becket asked, checking his shotgun. Not nearly enough ammo to deal with all of the Replicas he saw on the monitor.

"I'm glad you asked," Halford said, smiling slightly. He pushed a couple of boxes off of a large military crate before opening it. "I grabbed it from the experimental weapons lab when the shit started flying."

He handed Becket what appeared to be a rocket launcher. But there was no rocket visible in it, and the way the computer technician was holding it reverently caused Becket to set his shotgun down and take it. It was surprisingly light, and stamped on the side in large official letters was 'Type-12 Particle Weapon'. The side of the weapon glowed softly with a blue light.

"Speaking of shit flying, have you ever seen a hippopotamus fight? They start crapping and wagging their tails really fast and shit just flies everywhere. It's fucking insane."

… _Guy's fucking nuts._

"By the way, that's only a prototype so it may be a little quirky. It only has 5 shots anyway. But that's all you need, since it packs a hell of a punch."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Now, let's get the hell out of here!" Halford said, as the song changed to a song Becket knew, and often worked out to, Battery by Metallica.

The air behind Halford distorted in a hurry, and a man wearing a skintight jumpsuit and night vision goggles was suddenly behind him. The man grabbed the top of Halford's head, and before either Becket or Halford could react, drew a large knife across Halford's throat, severing his head and splattering Becket with blood. The assassin leapt off with the head as Snake Fist's body collapsed to the ground, blood coating the floor.

Becket stood there in shock for a full minute, unsure of what just happened.

"Becket, I hope you're on your way. You have Replica forges converging all over your position." Stokes radioed in worriedly, and that jarred Becket out of his reverie. He slung the energy weapon over his back and instead went with his assault rifle.

He left Halford's room in a hurry, pausing to shoot a pair of Replicas that attempted to bum rush him through the airlock. He moved quickly just like that, shooting and killing any Replica soldiers that got in his way. He eventually located the elevator, taking another moment to paint the walls red with Replica blood, before taking it up to the surface.

He arrived back in the elementary school, and as he moved out, a large group of Replicas attempted to stop him.

"Becket!" Stokes yelled as she and Keegan pushed open the door and fired into the throng of clones. "Get in the APC!!"

Becket happily obliged, sprinting up into the transport. Keegan and Stokes soon followed, and the door slid shut quickly. The strange echo of bullets pinging off the hull filled the inside of the cabin as Manny sped away.

"We saw what happened to Halford. There was nothing you could do," Stokes said reassuringly, putting a hand on Becket's shoulder. He gave her a half-assed smile before looking at the computer monitor mounted to the roof. "Let's take a look at Snake Fist's Data... The son of a bitch was true to his word. He gave us more than enough to sink Armacham forever... Assuming we survive long enough."

With a whir, the hard drive started up, and Snake Fist's data began showing up on screen.

…

**A/N: Hello again. It has been a while. **

**I cut a lot out that was basically, what I considered, cheap scares and stupid elongations of the game play; including the principal, Alma in the elevator, Replicas, the basement, and pretty much the whole nurse's office. By the way, why the hell are Abominations being kept there anyway when the facility they were being made in was the one where Becket woke up in? Oh, and if it's a "hit squad" it would be a small number of specially trained soldiers. So that's how I made it.**

**I promise to try not to take nearly a month to update again.**

**Music Used:**

**APC Ride: **"Save Room" from Resident Evil 2

**Wade Elementary: **"In the House in a Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later

**Remnant Battle Theme: **"Decisive Battle" from Final Fantasy VI

**Alone in the School: **"Character Select" from Resident Evil: Outbreak

**Corpse Alma Theme: **"Those Chosen by the Planet" from Final Fantasy VII

**Nurse's Office: **"Unrest" from Final Fantasy VIII

**Vanek Battle: **"Still More Fighting" from Final Fantasy VII

**Snake? Come in. Snake?! Snaaaaaaaaake!!! (Fist): **"Game Over" from Metal Gear Solid

**Escape the Facility: **"Battery" by Metallica


	20. PO Interval 06 : Deterioration

**Project Origin**  
**Interval 06**  
**DETERIORATION**

**Situation:**  
Snake Fist is dead, killed by a Replica assassin. His real name was Terry Halford, a staff member working for Genevieve Aristide on Project Harbinger.

Dark Signal operatives have acquired all of Snake Fist's data.

**Mission:**  
Current objective is unknown.

* * *

"I'll skip the metaphysics and try to keep this as simple as possible," the distorted voice of "Snake Fist" started. All four of the surviving members of Dark Signal watched the flip-down monitor intently, trying to figure out their next move. "Sergeant Becket, Genevieve Aristide did some nasty things to you back at that medical facility. First came the gene splicing operation to link you to Alma."

The image changed from Halford speaking into a webcam, to a still image of a group of doctors huddled over Becket's unconscious body on an operating table. Becket felt chills run up his spine as he remembered the operating theatre back in the Harbinger facility.

"Then she tricked you into getting into the telesthetic attunement chamber, which strengthened the link," he continued, the image returning to the bearded scientist staring into the webcam. "That's why Alma's aware of you. And why you're totally pooch-screwed unless you can destroy her. Which brings me to the telesthetic amplifier on Still Island. You're not psychically potent to resist Alma, so we're going to plug you into a device that will crank up your brain waves."

The image changed again, but this one cause Becket to sit up and stare intently.

"I've seen this picture before," he started, looking at Stokes and Keegan. "Aristide had a picture of this in her penthouse."

He turned back to the monitor, which showed a Polaroid picture of a chair, not unlike an electric chair. Leather straps dangled limply off of the arms and legs of the chair, and a large metallic crown rested on the top.

"Unfortunately, the only device that has enough juice for the job is on the island, hidden inside the old nuclear reactor," the image changed back to Terry Halford. "My belief is that the amplifier will theoretically make you powerful enough to defeat Alma in a battle of wills. I say "theoretically" because my data on Alma is a bit sketchy at this point, but the odds are better than even that when someone's head explodes, it will be hers and not yours. Which brings me—"

Snake Fist was cut off as Stokes turned off the monitor and raised it back into the roof. Becket eyed Keegan as the Gunnery Sergeant rubbed his head. Stokes cleared her throat.

"Seems pretty straightforward. Find the psychic amplifier, plug Becket into it, flip the switch, and Alma's history."

"Theoretically," grumbled Becket, still not totally sold on the prospect.

"So Still Island, huh," Manny said, glancing over his shoulder from the driver's seat of the APC. "I thought they shut the reactor down like… 30 or 40 years ago?"

"That must be when Armacham moved in," said Keegan, making sure the bandages tied around his torso were still tight and secure.

"According to Snake Fist's data, it's the main testing area for Project Origin," said Stokes, pulling her KERNAL system down over her eyes. "We'll deal with Aristide later, right now we have to fry Alma before she does the same to us."

Becket gave a curt nod, checking his assault rifle for the umpteenth time.

"How long will it take us to get there, Manny?" asked Stokes, leaning forward and putting her hand on Manny's shoulder.

"About fifteen minutes, L-T," Manny said with a smile, "if the roads are clear."

Becket was thrown aside roughly as something impacted the APC, hard. Stokes was tossed backward as well.

"Where did that come from?" Manny asked incredulously, pressing a few buttons on the computer monitors that revealed the outside of the heavily armored carrier. Keegan cursed and stamped out a small fire that sprang up in the personnel carrier.

"Manny, what the hell?"

"Looks like we stepped in the shit here, L-T. We got enemy targets-" Manny was cut off as the APC was rocked again. "Enemy targets - multiple enemy targets - bearing down on our position. It looks like Replica, and they look pissed."

"Sergeant, get us outta here!" Stokes yelled.

"We don't have too many options… Wait," Manny squinted at the forward monitor, before getting a wicked grin on his face. "Oh man, you might want to hold onto something."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Becket demanded, before being thrown backward again as Manny floored it. The APC rocketed forward, and then…

"Holy-" Keegan started as he was lifted off of his seat.

"Shiiiiiit!" Becket and Stokes finished as they too were lifted as the APC went airborne. Manny, laughing and whooping, continued to steer the APC, although it would do nothing. After a few seconds, which seemed to last for hours, the APC crashed loudly to the ground, rolling several times, tossing the soldiers about like they were in an oversized drier. And then it stopped, landing right side up miraculously.

Becket pushed himself off the ground with a groan, as Manny stepped past the Sergeant and pushed the back door of the APC open.

"Now boarding," Manny said with a smile, grabbing an Andra FD-99 submachine gun off of the wall. "Fifth Street Station."

Stokes sits up off the ground by the driver's seat, brushing a few loose strands of blonde hair back behind her ear.

"The subway… Good work, Sergeant."

"Manny," Keegan said, laughing and grabbing his discarded KERNAL system before pulling himself to his feet. "You crazy son of a bitch!"

Bullets ricocheted off of the metal exterior of the APC, causing Manny to pull himself back into cover.

"Replicas," growled Manny, before uttering a stream of curses in Spanish.

Becket glanced up at the roof, noticing the hatch up there was slightly ajar. He moved quickly, without hesitation, leaving his assault rifle and Type-12 Particle Weapon on the bench and clambering up the ladder. Becket threw the hatch open, as bullets flew overhead.

"Move! I'll keep you covered from up here!"

Stokes nodded at Becket's orders, as he pulled his KERNAL system onto his eyes, grabbing the heavy turret mounted to the roof. Bullets continued to bounce off of his cover, as Becket pulled the bolt back on the turret with a snap. He looked, up at the top of the stairs leading to the subway were the Replicas, advancing slowly and firing bursts from their weapons. Becket depressed the trigger, high caliber bullets exploding out of the barrel of the heavy machine gun. Becket grimaced as the recoil of the large gun rocked his arms, casings ejecting violently from the side of the weapon.

The Replicas took cover as the bullets tore apart the area around the clone soldiers. Luckily for them, the destruction that was prevalent within the city was the same here, not to mention the addition of a two-ton vehicle tumbling through the subway, caused quite a bit of rubble for the Replicas, as well as the Dark Signal operatives, to take cover behind.

Stokes, Manny and Keegan all had moved out of the APC and into cover behind a collapsed pillar. Becket continued to keep the Replica squad pinned down, firing his heavy weapon in short bursts. Stokes moved to the next bit of cover, firing up at the Replica forces as Manny moved next. Keegan continued to hunker down behind the pillar, firing at the Replicas as well.

"Keegan, move up!" Stokes ordered.

"Keegan!" Manny hollered as well, as Keegan suddenly stands completely out of cover.

"Don't you see her?" Keegan asked, dropping his submachine gun and climbing over the rubble.

"Keegan!" Becket yelled, firing a long burst from the turret, trying to keep the Replica force in cover. But they weren't worried about Keegan; they weren't even shooting at him as he walked openly through the battlefield.

"Why aren't they shooting at him?" Manny asked, firing up at the Replica forces.

"Who cares? I'll cover you! Go grab him!" Stokes yelled, standing and firing a few bursts at the Replica army, which, alongside Becket's turret, caused them to stay in cover. Manny ran out, SMG dangling wildly from its sling, wrapping both arms around Keegan, who struggled wildly, and pulled him over toward the central platform.

"Becket! Let's go!" Stokes yelled, as she followed Manny. Becket abandoned the turret, ducking back in the APC and grabbing the Type-12 Particle Weapon, slinging it over his back. He then reached for his assault rifle, but a long, accurate stream of gunfire caused him to pull his hand back.

"Fuck it," growled Becket, climbing up the ladder and rolling off the side of the APC quickly, as bullets crashed into the armored personnel carrier. He crawled behind numerous piles of rubble, as bullets ricocheted harmlessly off of his cover.

He met up with Stokes and Manny on the platform. Both were still trying to restrain Keegan.

"Keegan," yelled Stokes, getting in his face. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Keegan stopped struggling, causing Manny to loosen his grip, he stared at Stokes, and then Becket, who felt chills running up his spine at Keegan's relaxed face and small smile.

"Don't be afraid," the Gunnery Sergeant whispered. Manny pushed Keegan forward, against the closed gate.

"We don't have time for this, man," he said, moving forward to grab him again. "Pull yourself together!"

But Keegan was too fast.

He grabbed the fence, sliding quickly through a small hole in the bottom.

"Keegan!"

"Come back! Don't leave!" Keegan cried, crawling on his hands and knees toward the corner of the graffiti stained hallway.

"I got him," Becket said, swinging himself through the hole as well. Just in time, too, as gunfire ripped around the tiled wall where Stokes and Manny were standing. Both instantly dropped into defensive positions, returning fire as Becket pushed up against the gate.

"Becket, go after Keegan!" Stokes ordered. "We'll deal with the Replicas and come after you!"

Becket nodded, before Stokes called his name again, causing him to turn once more.

"Watch out for Alma."

Becket nodded again, his mouth now suddenly dry, before heading down the hallway after Keegan.

The hallway was empty, numerous steel shelves stood with unlabeled cardboard boxes on them, adding to the blandness of the concrete walls and floor. Becket moved forward, pulling his 9mm pistol out of its holster and holding it at the ready rather than the experimental weapon on his back.

Becket approached a door at the end of the hall, a bright white light leaking out from all corners of the door, which was rattling fiercely. Becket approached, holding his pistol at the ready. He tossed it open, gun pointed at…

Nothing. The door led to another subway tunnel, a vast amount of rubble completely blocking the right side of the tunnel. Becket activated the flashlight on the side of his KERNAL system, hopping down onto the track. He moved forward, cautiously, as he noticed a few dark spots moving quickly down the tunnel.

Rats, running away from something.

Becket double-timed it down the tunnel, reaching another collapsed side of the tunnel. He ducked into another hallway, moving through it quickly and finding another subway tunnel. This one was a platform, with a lit train car sitting abandoned in the center of the track.

"Great," said Becket, moving forward slowly. "I lost him."

As soon as he uttered the words, Becket noticed something that made him retract them. A pair of sunglasses, blue lenses with what seemed to be a Bluetooth attachment.

Keegan's KERNAL system.

Becket grabbed the glasses, staring at them intently.

He didn't notice a man in a skin-tight suit silently leap from the top of the train down onto the platform.

Becket slid Keegan's KERNAL into a pocket on his vest and moved through the platform.

He hoped that Stokes and Manny were alright against the Replica force, that they would be able to hold out.

_Are you thinking about them, or are you thinking about Alma?_

"Shut up," he muttered. Moving through the platform and vaulting over the entrance gate of the subway, ending up staring at a pair of escalators. At least, he was, until something leapt at him from the shadows of the platform.

Becket was shoved aside with a yell, sparks exploding out of the concrete as something was dragged across it. Becket kicked out, striking nothing but open air. Becket lifted his pistol, dragging it from left to right, trying to see whatever it was that hit him. He saw it again, a faint shimmer…

_Like heat rising off the blacktop on a hot day._

_Like what killed Halford, Mikey._

Becket set his pistol on the concrete, sliding the Type-12 weapon around to his front. Time to test this puppy out.

He fired, and rather than a bullet or anything that was to be expected, a slow moving bolt of blue energy flew lazily toward his target.

"Are you kidding me?" Becket yelled at the waste of a shot, but quickly changed his tune when he saw the air distort around the ball, and a charred skeleton collapsed in a heap as the energy ball disappeared.

"… Are you kidding me…?" Becket stared at the weapon in surprise. Only four more shots, however, meant he had to save them.

He pulled himself to his feet, grabbing his pistol off of the concrete and moving up the escalator. At the top, another unseen assailant assaulted him. He was slashed across the Kevlar by an invisible blade. Becket took a leap back in surprise, lifting his pistol and firing. The air distorted in a storm of electricity, and a man in a skintight leather suit and night vision goggles leapt at Becket. He fired four shots into the man, who collapsed with a groan.

Becket kicked the foot of the dead body.

"Replica," he said softly. Something told him he was on the right track. After all, he was psychic.

Becket moved forward, lifting a soda machine out of the way with a grunt, and continuing down the hallway. He walked through the dark hallway, fluorescent lights flickering overhead softly. He emerged on another platform, noticing right away the skeleton, sitting upright on one of the benches. Becket covered his mouth, moving away from the skeleton. It looked different than the others that he had encountered tonight, it was still…

Juicy. Blood leaked off the ribcage and added to the already impressive puddle on the bench and floor.

Becket leaped onto the track, following the tunnel down the side that was not caved in, walking down the dark tunnel and following the steel rail through the darkness.

"Becket," Stokes said through his earpiece, her image appearing in the lower left of the heads up display of his KERNAL. "Manny managed to get the APC out of the tunnel. We'll try to rendezvous with you at the King Street station."

She hesitated for a moment, and Becket breathed a sigh of relief, at least her and Manny were safe.

"Keegan's readings are looking a bit strange… I must be getting interference."

It sounded like she was trying to convince herself that he was alright, but Becket was sure she knew. Keegan was no longer with them.

Becket noticed a pair of red and blue blinking lights flashing down the tunnel, and Becket approached them, pistol held ready. The tunnel had collapsed here, as well, parts of the street sitting in the tunnel as well. The lights were coming from a police car, sitting completely in the tunnel.

That explosion… This city…

Why the hell were they still here?

Gunfire erupted from the side of the tunnel, as Becket ducked into cover behind a large slab of asphalt. He popped up, firing his pistol wildly into the opening. Accurate gunfire was returned, as Becket scrambled into another piece of cover, closer to the target. He popped up, firing a trio of shots into the Replica. Becket ejected his empty magazine, inserting a fresh one before sliding it into his thigh holster, grabbing the assault rifle from the still hands of the Replica. Luckily, he still had several magazines from earlier still tucked into pouches on his vest.

Becket stepped across the tracks, the large hole from the street causing light to stream down onto the usually dark tracks and ash to float softly in the air. Becket shined his flashlight onto the sign for the platform he was on. Raven Street Station, several blocks from King Street. He moved onward, entering a new hallway, as the door on the opposite end of the hall exploded outward, toward Becket, a Heavy Replica soldier stepped forward, through the blown apart door, and lifted its nail gun to aim at Becket, who ducked quickly into an alcove for cover.

He pulled the Type-12 off of his back, leaning out and firing a slow firing bolt of energy, which floated lazily toward the Heavy, who was too slow or too stupid to duck, and was quickly disintegrated. Becket stepped forward, returning the Type-12 to his back and grabbing his assault rifle again.

Becket moved through the employee only section of the subway, engaging in gun battles with the few Replica soldiers he encountered, weaving his way between complex machinery and large pipes. Eventually he came to a hatch in the ground, the steel lid propped open, and at the bottom of a short ladder was…

"Keegan!" Becket yelled, seeing his squad mate stumble forward like he was sleepwalking. If he heard him, he didn't make any signal that he did so. Becket spun around, grabbing onto the yellow metal and lowering himself down into the hole.

Keegan was nowhere to be seen, and Becket jogged through the corridor. The hall opened to a large room, an open area revealing the floor below in the center of it. Keegan was on the other side of the pit, stumbling forward. Keegan grabbed a circuit breaker, pushing the switch up into the on position.

_How is he so fast?_

Becket sprinted down the hallway, sliding around the corner, looking into the room where Keegan was…

And he was gone.

"This is getting frustrating," panted Becket.

_At least your lover isn't around yet, Mikey._

"Yeah, yeah…" muttered Becket, as he pulled the breaker down, turning off the power. The room plunged into darkness, and Becket jumped. He could've sworn he saw something flash in the darkness…

He left the room, noticing something shining slightly at the end of the hall. As Becket squinted, the image rocketed itself forward, as Becket screamed and fired once from his assault rifle, dissipating the image.

It looked like a skeleton. A glowing skeleton…

Becket shook his head, taking the stairs on his left down two at a time.

"Becket…" came a long, drawn out whisper from the darkness. "Michael… Becket…"

Becket turned, sweating profusely, assault rifle held at the ready. With a flash, another specter appeared, convulsing as it stalked toward Becket.

"Get away from me!" Becket yelled, firing into the specter and causing it to fade away.

"Becket…" came the whisper from everywhere, but nowhere at once.

Becket ran, ran for his life, panting in terror. He ran through the winding corridor, dodging the apparitions that materialized before his very eyes.

He saw an open door in the hallway ahead of him, and Becket ran full speed through the portal, throwing the door closed with all of his might and leaning against it, breathing heavily. He turned after he regained his breath, wiping the sweat off of his brow, magazines clinking together.

The damage here was not as evident as in the other sections of the tunnel, and a sign revealed that he was in the King Street Station. A lone train car sat in the middle of the tracks, blocking his way to the other side. Becket climbed into the train car, walking to the open door on the other end.

Flash.

It sounded like nails grating on a chalkboard, and suddenly, the outside of the car was simply a fiery red vortex. A shadow dropped across Becket, and the entire train in general. And he turned, slowly.

Alma.

His heart skipped a beat, and he stepped forward, taking in her beauty… Her radiance…

She took a step forward, tentatively, and then…

Disappeared.

"Wait," Becket started, suddenly angry. "Where are you going? WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

He clasped a hand over his mouth as he suddenly realized what he was doing.

Gunfire ripped into the train car, sending Becket flat on his stomach.

"Check it," a voice came. Becket popped out of cover and returned fire, noting that it was Replicas who had engaged him. Only a few of them, however. Becket killed the Replica who had approached the train car, and then found another target and blasted him as well. A third Replica threw a grenade into the car, and Becket pounced on it quickly and tossed it back at them. An explosion and loud scream told Becket that he was successful. Becket left the safety of the train car, sprinting across the platform before targeting and blasting another Replica, blood splattering onto the off-white tile behind him as the soldier crumpled lifelessly to the ground.

Becket ejects his empty magazine, slapping a fresh one in and drawing the bolt back.

"Becket," it was Stokes again. "Becket, I think I found something. Halford's files show an Armacham cargo tunnel running from the medical facility we were at to Still Island… It runs from the Auburn Industrial District straight to Still Island… You can find an entrance near the… The epicenter of the explosion."

"Right," said Becket, a finger to his earpiece. "Right, I got it."

"We'll meet up with you there."

Becket nodded, although they couldn't see, and their communication link shut off. He took the stairs out of the subway, ending up once again on the street. Becket shuffled between the burned out husks of cars on the road, weapon up and trained on every potential hiding spot. The Replica forces were in the subway system, they must be up here too, right?

As if to answer his question, the crack of a sniper rifle echoed through the morning air, and a bullet ricocheted off the car in front of him. Becket instantly ducked into cover, bringing the ACOG scope of his assault rifle up to his eye. He found the sniper rather easily, hiding up on top of a theater marquee. Becket unleashed a stream of bullets, killing the sniper. Becket continued down the street, using his assault rifle to kill any of the Replicas that dared to engage him.

At the end of the street was… Nothing.

Steel girders, twisted and mangled in the explosion, jutted toward the blue sky. The old warehouses that used to dot the Auburn district were blown apart, rubble and glass covering the street. Becket made his way to the edge of the large crater, staring down into the gaping chasm apprehensively.

"Keegan?" Becket saw his friend standing on the precipice as well, staring into the hole. With a soft breeze, Keegan was wiped away, black ash coming off of him until he was gone. The sun would not shine through the dark cloud that hung over the epicenter of the explosion, as Becket started to work his way down the sides of the hole, grasping onto steel girders as support.

Keegan was standing on the edge of a piece of road, staring down into the abyss. Before, once again, disappearing on the wind. Becket stared down a hole behind where Keegan was standing, a large emergency escape hatch, the strong metal lid completely torn off.

"This must be it."

Becket hopped down the hatch, activating his flashlight and holding his assault rifle at the ready.

The hallway he was in led to a large cargo train, sitting silently in the darkened station. Becket moved up to the control room, where he quickly activated the power.

The console and glass windows exploded in the small booth as Replica soldiers fired their automatic weapons into it, trying to kill Becket. He crouched on the ground, before popping up and engaging each of the targets. He left the booth quickly, dropping the spent magazine on one of the dead bodies of the clones.

Becket hopped on the train, activating it and pushing the throttle forward.

"Tram activated," a cool, female voice said. "En route to… Still Island Facility."

Becket sat down heavily in the conductor's seat, lifting his KERNAL system and rubbing his eyes with his gloved hands. He hadn't slept in what was nearing two days. His adrenaline was running low, and his shoulder ached from the constant shooting he had been doing these nights.

"Becket," Stokes once again led off a radio message with his name. "I was digging through Halford's data on the way here and found a recorded report on Alma. You should hear it."

"Alma Wade was eight years old when they put her in the Vault," came the voice of Terry Halford, and Becket closed his eyes tightly. Eight years old? "Her own father stuck her in a suspension tank in an induced coma, knowing she'd probably never wake up again."

_What kind of fucked up father does that?_

_Quiet, I want to hear the ending._

"Well, she did, right after she gave birth to the first prototype. She was 15. The second prototype was born a year later. She woke up for that one too. She didn't like them taking her babies away from her. A few years after that, they decided she was becoming too dangerous when they realized she was influencing the second prototype's actions, even though she was completely unconscious and locked away deep underground in a telesthetic suppression field. So they turned off her life support and sealed up the facility. Just left her to drown in amniotic fluid in that miserable little tank she'd been floating in since she was a little girl. Well, her heart shut down, but her psychic signature didn't."

"Jesus Christ," Becket whispered.

"Not many people can just refuse to die."

"Becket, we're almost to Still Island. We'll see you inside," Stokes signed off.

"Harlan Wade was right. We make our own monsters," continued Snake Fist. He paused for a moment before delivering his final, chilling line. "And they come back to haunt us."

"Now arriving at... Still Island Facility."

"Thanks, computer lady," said Becket, reluctantly getting to his feet and pulling his KERNAL system back on his eyes.

Eight years old? Jesus… That's outrageous.

Becket was on a platform that simply had a loud of cargo crates, all too large to be carried by even a forklift. I guess it made sense to have all of those cranes floating overhead. The cargo elevator on the wall opposite of where Becket was standing looked like it would lead him up into the facility.

But then he noticed it, in the back of the elevator.

The air was distorting.

"Alright," Becket said, stretching his shoulders. "I'm in my right mind right now, and I don't have time to be playing with you, so if you're going to come then COME AT ME!"

As she was bidden, Alma launched herself into reality and sprinted at Becket faster than he anticipated, her latent psychic power lifting all of the large cargo crates around her as she launched herself at Becket with a primal scream. Becket grabbed her out of midair, forcing her back to the ground. Her yellow eyes burned into his soul.

_I'm everything you ever wanted… I'm everything you ever needed…_

Becket felt a tickling in his mind, and his grip loosened, as Alma began to smile and draw her way into Becket.

"NO!" He roared, shoving her away. Alma screamed in defeat, teleporting away and causing all of the crates to collapse back to the ground, cracking the lower halves of most of them.

Becket, sweating, exhausted, wearily moved to the elevator. He was drained, like usual, physically and mentally. He couldn't hold her off.

_Come back…_

He turned just in time as she spider crawled towards him, launching herself at him again, once again in her beautiful body. Becket's mind was empty, and she invaded it without a second thought. She tossed Becket aside like a ragdoll. He slammed into the side of the elevator with a pained scream. She psychically drew him toward her

_Now it's us. Together. As it should be._

causing him to slide across the floor of the elevator, she grabbed him by the collar of his Kevlar vest, sinking down onto him and straddling him.

_Forever._

"No…" Becket muttered trying to grab her as she caressed his Kevlar covered chest. "Please, no…"

He reached toward his holstered pistol, but Alma leaned down, staring into his eyes, faces mere inches apart. Her raven locks brushing his sweat and stubble covered cheek.

This was it. He failed. He was so close, but now he was about to be absorbed by Alma.

Just like Top and Fox.

But as she stared into his eyes, her own irises burning yellow he realized something.

Michael David Becket didn't care anymore.

She was here. And he was going to be a part of her.

Forever.

She leaned down and kissed him, long and passionately, and Becket found himself returning the kiss.

She disappeared with a soft laugh, reality distorting around Becket as she vanished.

He sadly pulled himself to his feet, retrieving his assault rifle from the elevator ground. He pressed the up button, turning around and facing the tram. The lift began moving upward.

_Now, you're mine._

"Forever," Becket said, smiling wickedly as his eyes glowed a powerful golden color.

* * *

**A/N – Fooled you all. Y'all thought I was dead?**

**Yes, I realize F.E.A.R. 3 has already been released (good lord, is that how long it really has been? Most of my reviews are talking about it like it was a pipe dream) but I have yet to play it, and will be sticking with MY VERSION of F.3.A.R. (which makes much more sense in my mind than the story of the real one anyway) which is COMPLETELY WRITTEN but still needs to be edited. **

**So, yes, prepare for the next 5 days for this story to be finished after a… 2 year hiatus. (ahem). **

**ALSO. This will be the first chapter of the HER NAME IS ALMA[REDEUX] project, where I will be going through and doing a comprehensive overhaul, edit, possible rewrite and fixing of the formatting that the website has screwed up.**

**Review away friends (although most of you have probably moved on to newer and better things)…**


	21. PO Interval 07 : Unification

**Project Origin  
Interval 07  
UNIFICATION**

**Situation:**

Dark Signal operatives have arrived at the Still Island facility and are attempting to locate the Telesthetic Amplifier.

Dark Signal operative is no closer to intercepting Sergeant Keegan. If anything, he seems to be moving further away.

**Mission:**

Primary objective is to rendezvous with Dark Signal team and use the Telesthetic Amplifier to destroy _.

Secondary objective is to locate and restrain Sergeant Keegan.

* * *

_Take her to the Vault._

_Daddy, no! Please, no!_

Flash.

Becket came to, kneeling on the cold steel floor of the elevator. His head was throbbing, and spinning. Becket promptly vomited onto the steel, rolling onto his back. The whole world was spinning, and nothing made sense.

The last thing he remembered…

_"NO!" He roared, shoving her away. Alma screamed in defeat, teleporting away_

"What the hell happened? How did I end up here?" Becket mused to no one in particular. He slowly pushed his way up to his feet, grabbing his discarded assault rifle and making sure it was ready.

How did he end up at the top of the lift? Hell, he didn't even remember getting on the elevator. Becket slowly made his way out of the elevator, moving into a concrete hallway. A forklift, holding a pallet of barrels was on his right, and further down the hall, the wall was collapsed inward, allowing light to stream in from outside. Becket stepped over the rubble, pulling himself through the hole and seeing…

_I know. I know what I am... _

Her tree. Alma's tree. Just as it was in his dreams.

Becket approached, bewildered. The simple swing hung limply in the still day, as Becket approached and touched it, pushing the wood plank away from him.

_Mine! This body is mine!_

Becket collapsed onto his knee, yelling in pain as his head throbbed immensely, sending shockwaves through his body. His hand convulsed, grabbing wildly at the air, as if

_I am her King. HER KING!_

it had a mind of its own.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Becket yelled, grabbing his hand and slamming it on the ground several times. Instantly, his headaches subsided and he had control of his body again. Becket remained on his hands and knees for a minute, sweat dripping off his brow, before he spun around and sat down, facing the opposite direction.

Alma stared at him, her sunken eyes boring into his soul.

Becket screamed in surprise, firing his assault rifle into Alma's hunched over body, causing her to disappear in a flash.

_My love! What have you done to her! You will pay. PAY._

"SHUT UP!" Becket roared, pulling his pistol out of its holster and putting the barrel to his temple. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

The voice quieted. And Becket put his pistol away with trembling hands. What the hell was wrong with him? Becket got to his feet unsteadily, releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Suddenly, he realized it, eyes open wide and spine prickling in terror.

Alma had overwhelmed him.

She didn't absorb him like she did Top or Fox, for some reason he was still alive. But…

She had taken control of his mind. He knew it, instantly, although he didn't quite know how. The numerous voices that were usually floating in his head have all but disappeared, replaced with a festering, angry alternate personality that seethed beneath the surface.

And worse, this… Thing in his head. It wasn't just a voice. It was strong, strong enough to possess his hand. Alma needed him alive for some reason, but under her control, to dance to her tune.

He was going to make her regret that decision.

"If I can keep control long enough," said Becket, talking to no one. "I can get to the Amplifier and destroy her."

Jaw set with resolve, Becket strode across the open courtyard, pulling open a chain link fence on the other side. His KERNAL flickered, and Stokes' image appeared in the heads up display.

"I'm inside," she said, her voice slightly garbled by the static. "Looks like someone was here recently, but I haven't seen anyone so far."

Her image was replaced by Manny's as Becket took a ladder down into a drainage ditch.

"Stokes," the Sergeant started. "We've got movement, lots of movement."

Becket made his way through the tunnel, kneepads scraping against the concrete as he crawled forward.

"Hold them off as long as you can, but don't take any chances," the Lieutenant responded. "If things get too hot, I want you to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you, Lieutenant."

"You'll do as you're told," Stokes responded strictly, as Becket pulled himself out of the small tunnel, landing in another drainage area.

"Bullshit," said Manny, cursing in English rather than his native tongue. "You can court martial me if we come out of this alive."

A single Replica soldier dropped down the ladder across the room from Becket, who fired a three round burst into the upper torso of the soldier, blood exploding from the wounds like clouds. The clone dropped like a rock, and Becket strode across the room, climbing up the manhole and exiting the drainage area.

He arrived in a courtyard just outside of the nuclear power plant. Rubble from the large concrete towers was scattered about the open aired area. The APC, badly damaged from crashing down the subway, was sitting in the middle of the courtyard, Manny sitting up on the turret.

"Damn, Becket!" Manny exclaimed with a laugh, seeing an exhausted and dirty Becket. "You are a bad mother fucker, I'll tell you that."

Becket looked around, seeing a variety of Replica corpses tossed about the courtyard.

"What's the situation, Manny?" Becket asked.

"Well," Manny said, squinting in the sunlight, looking for more clones. "They don't seem very coordinated. It's definitely not an organized attack. Uh... more like they're all just showing up separately."

Manny dropped from controlling the turret, and exited through the back of the APC, hefting an SMG.

"Come on, Stokes is inside," he said, motioning for Becket to follow.

They approached the door of the facility, a heavy steel airlock with a small control pad, like a simple calculator, built into the concrete frame of the facility. They approached, and Becket watched Manny try to punch in a combination, when the control panel sparked violently. Manny cursed in Spanish, putting a pair of fingers to his headset.

"Stokes, the panel must have taken a hit in the fight. Can you open this door from where you are?"

"I think so," responded Stokes over the headset. "Give me a minute."

"Manny," said Becket, motioning with his head toward a squadron of Replica clambering over the rubble toward their position. "We got company."

"Stokes, make it quick," Manny said, turning and running for the APC, Becket hot on his heels. "Look like we've got some late arrivals to the party."

Manny sprinted into the open back of the APC, setting his SMG down and climbing up the ladder quickly, grabbing onto the controls of the turret as Becket slammed into the metal cover of the APC.

Manny started firing, the deafening sounds of the turret ripping through the still day air. Becket winced as a scalding brass jacket fell on his exposed forearm, and he brushed it off quickly, leaning out of cover and firing a quick burst at the swarming clones.

"Yeah, sucker!" Manny yelled, laughing. "You like that?"

Becket glanced to his right, seeing a Heavy Replica stomp out from behind cover, raising its nail gun.

"Manny! Three o'clock!" Becket yelled, as Manny swung the turret around, ripping apart the Heavy as glowing-tipped nails slammed into the side of the APC, some bouncing off harmlessly, some puncturing the steel.

"There's a lot more where that came from!" Sergeant Morales said, laughing. Becket grinned in spite of himself; the guy was having a ball.

More Replica forces stormed into the courtyard from an opening in the concrete wall, Becket lifted his assault rifle and it clicked empty. Damn. He reached for another magazine and found… Nothing.

Double damn.

"Manny, I'm out!"

"Use mine!"

Becket pulled the sling over his head, dropping the empty assault rifle and grabbing Manny's SMG off one of the benches in the APC. Becket left the sanctuary of the small tank, ducking behind a collapsed pillar, popping up and taking potshots at the few Replicas that Manny hadn't killed yet.

"Becket!"

Becket looked up to see Manny tossing him a magazine. Becket reached out to grab

_THIS BODY IS MINE!_

it out of the air when he collapsed on the ground, the magazine clattering harmlessly around the rubble.

"Not now!" Becket hissed through grit teeth, as every inch of his body burned and ached. Becket threw one arm over the pillar, using it to prop himself up on one knee. He looked forward, staring at nothing, eyes blazing yellow as he smiled wickedly.

"You can't resist," the voice that came forth was dual layered. Both Becket and Alma's voices were coming from Becket's mouth.

"You can't resist," it repeated. "Your mind is weak, you have all of this psychic power and no idea how to use it. You don't deserve to control this body."

"This body..." Becket grunted, eyes returning to normal. "Is mine!"

"BECKET!" Manny hollered, swinging the turret around to blast a Replica that was approaching Becket's cover. This snapped Becket back to reality, and he scrambled away from the pillar, which exploded with gunshots. Manny returned to firing at the Replica forces, which were now swarming the courtyard.

Becket fired a stream of bullets into a Replica, dropping him. Becket retrieved the magazine from the rubble.

"Why do you persist?" Becket's eyes glowed bright yellow, energy flowing off of them. "These... Mortal weapons, disgusting. There is such a much more... Elegant solution."

Becket extended his right arm toward a Replica, who stiffened like a board, dropping its assault rifle on the ground. Becket grinned wickedly as the Replica was levitated off the ground several inches, before Becket squeezed his hand shut. The Replica was liquefied with a scream, flesh and blood exploding off of the skeleton, which dropped to the ground in a pile of bones. Becket laughed wildly, insanely, before his eyes returned to normal.

_Have your fun. You won't have much more._

The evil was just toying with him now, laugh echoing away in the recesses of his mind. It could take full control at any time, as it showed just him, but it was simply letting him live out his fantasy that he could stop it.

Becket's heart sank, as he fired at another Replica, ejecting the spent magazine, reloading. He swung the Type-12 weapon around into his hands, taking aim at a group of Replica and firing, disintegrating several before the remaining few jumped out of the way.

It didn't matter. He had to win. He had to stop it, otherwise...

He didn't want to think of the otherwise. He had to do it. Period.

"Oh, you look hungry! Let me serve you up a little something!" Manny laughed, firing the turret at a squad of Replica running down the open yard. "Whaddya think? Bullets taste like chicken, don't they?"

Becket laughed again. Manny was saying some ridiculous things as he blasted the Replica forces.

A bullet grazed Becket's neck, as he dropped back into cover, blood trickling off the wound slightly, running down and soaking his collar.

"I can keep shredding you fuckers all day!"

Becket returned to cover behind the APC, just as Stokes radioed in.

"I've got it, the door is open."

"Becket! Go!" Manny yelled, continuing to fire at the Replica forces, which weren't disappearing. "God DAMN, this is therapeutic!"

Becket sprinted across the open field as the airlock slid open, dodging gunfire from the clones. Becket stepped into the airlock, and the outside door slid shut with a hiss.

"Hey Becket," Manny radioed in, the sound of gunfire still prevalent in the background. "Good luck, man."

Becket stood as the airlock pressurized, his ears popped as the pressure changed from the outside to the inside. Red lasers passed from the ceiling to the floor, and then back up to the ceiling again, killing all of the bacteria that were present on his body.

_It's almost time._

"Shut up," growled Becket.

The inner gateway opened with a hiss, the heavy steel door sliding inward and then to the side. Becket entered a wide-open space, numerous computer monitors on the walls, all of them displaying the symbol of the Armacham Technology Corporation, spinning softly above the background.

"Becket! Over here!" Stokes yelled, standing in an open doorway across the room. Becket strode across the room, meeting up with Stokes. She smiled at him, one that he tried to return but failed. "Man, it's good to see you. I didn't know if you'd make it... Hell, I didn't think we were going to make it."

Becket didn't respond, turning and pushing the up button on the elevator control panel. The cargo elevator starting moving up the steel, bland shaft with a hum.

"Halford wasn't sure what will happen when Alma shows up," Stokes said, checking her SMG. "I hope it's not one of those horror movie things where she reads your mind and uses your deepest fears against you. That would suck."

She laughed softly, but Becket didn't respond.

_How little she knows._

"Whatever happens, I just want you to know... Nobody else could've done what you did today, Becket. If we get out of this, it's because of you."

Becket turned to look at her.

"Thanks, Stokes," he said, with a small smile. "Thanks for believing in me."

She smiled back, pushing her KERNAL system back up her nose. The elevator shuddered and stopped, Becket and Stokes stepping through the open door, weapons raised. The control room was dark and empty. Several desks, computers and equipment still sitting on them, sat unoccupied. A thin layer of dust covered everything, Becket noticed, as they stepped forward. Another airlock was on the other side of the room, and Stokes and Becket entered.

Becket collapsed against the side of the wall, eyes glowing bright yellow as the airlock closed and began to pressurize.

"Becket?" Stokes approached, touching his elbow.

"Get away!" Becket growled as he struggled to get back in control of his body. He did, finally, sweating and panting, standing straight up again.

"Becket...?" Stokes asked, hesitantly, her hand on her pistol. Becket held up a hand.

"I'm fine," he said, breathlessly. "I can... I can hold out. Until it's done."

Stokes nodded solemnly.

"Once we're inside, I'll need to make sure everything's set up the way Snake Fist indicated in his notes. While I'm doing that, you can power up the amplifier. It looks like we don't have much time left."

Becket nodded as his ears popped, and the lasers came down from the ceiling, frying any and all bacteria on their bodies and weapons. The door opened with a hiss, and both of them passed through the doorway, standing back outside. The sounds of gunfire had died down, just the occasional spurt of gunfire, the sound of the turret overwhelming the sound of the Replica assault rifles. They were in a catwalk, a large concrete wall blocking both sides of the catwalk. Both Deltas sprinted down the catwalk, entering another airlock.

"Great, another airlock," said Stokes humorlessly. Becket laughed slightly. After another segment of ears popping and bacteria killing, the door slid open again, and Becket and Stokes entered a large, open area.

"We must be in one of the smoke stacks," Becket said, seeing a large steel ball, currently being lowered by a robotic arm. Steam hissed out of the arm as it lowered the ball to the catwalk that Becket and Stokes stood on. Energy radiated off of the ball in huge waves.

"Becket," Stokes said, heading to a control console. "Power up the amplifier."

The ball opened, splitting neatly in half, revealing the amplifier chair sitting in the center of the cage. Becket nodded, heading to a desk of power switches. Wiring hung freely from underneath the panel, most of it looking extremely old and dangerous. Becket pulled all three of the switches, the buttons and monitors on the desk lighting up.

"That's it! According to Snake Fist, it'll take a few minutes to reach full power."

Becket nodded, watching as a bridge extended from the catwalk, leading to the amplifier. Becket's head throbbed as he stepped onto the bridge.

"No," he grunted, as his hand squeezed itself shut unconsciously. He grabbed his wrist with his free hand, eventually forcing it open with by sheer willpower. "Not yet."

He stepped forward, limbs feeling like lead with each step.

The evil in his head was silent, but he felt like it was attempting to hold him back. A hand was placed on his shoulder, and Becket turned, half expecting to see Alma.

It was Stokes. She was staring at him resolutely.

"Let's do it, Becket."

He nodded, handing her his SMG, Type-12 Particle Weapon and KERNAL system, before sitting in the chair. She set them aside.

Stokes locked his feet in first, tightening the leather straps around his feet and shins, before leading forward and tightening the straps around his wrist, not tight enough to cut off circulation. He tried to move, but was snugly secured. She lowered the metallic crown onto his head as well.

The lights in the amplifier went off suddenly, and Stokes turned in surprise. Becket tried to crane his head to see, but was locked in tightly.

"Aristide?" Stokes asked, surprised, she took a step forward, toward the businesswoman. Aristide's suit was rumpled and dirty, her hair was messy and bags were under her eyes. She held a pistol in her hand as she approached Becket and Stokes.

"What's wrong with you?" Stokes demanded, unarmed, as she stood in front of Aristide. "We have to stop Alma!"

"That's exactly what I intend to do," said Aristide, leaning on the control panel wearily.

"But Becket's not strong enough without the amplifier. She'll absorb him."

_Absorb? No._

"And then we'll lock them away."

Becket blinked in surprise.

"What the FUCK is wrong with you! Why are you doing this?" Stokes yelled at Aristide. She puts her hands up as Aristide points her gun in the Lieutenant's direction.

"Without Alma, I don't have any leverage. Without leverage, I don't have a future."

_There is no future._

Stokes glanced at Becket, shock and anger on her face, before turning back to Aristide.

"I can't believe this. The city's a smoldering ruin and you're worried about your fucking resume."

"Listen-"

"No, you listen!" Stokes yelled, taking a step toward Aristide and putting her hands down. "We're doing this Halford's way. We're gonna kill the bitch."

Stokes reaches for her pistol, but Aristide is faster.

The chamber echoes with the sound of a gunshot, and blood splatters on Becket as Stokes collapses with a cry of surprise.

"Stokes!" Becket yelled, as the Lieutenant crawled forward before collapsing. She was breathing heavily, sobbing slightly, as she tried to push herself off the ground.

Aristide stepped forward, tripping over Stokes and landing on Becket. She stared at the Sergeant in his eyes as he struggled, trying to get free and help his comrade.

"I'm not a bad person," she said softly, almost apologetically. "I'm sorry it came to this. I really am. I just don't have a choice."

She tested Becket's wrist bonds. Stokes collapsed with a gasp, lying still.

"You have a date with destiny, Sergeant Becket. Let's not keep her waiting."

Aristide took a step back, staring to Becket's left in surprise. She raised her pistol

_It's time. Goodbye, Michael._

but was thrown aside like a ragdoll, bouncing off the extended metallic bridge several times before landing in a heap on the ground near the elevator.

The air distorted all around the amplifier, and although Becket couldn't move his head to completely see what it was, he knew. And he felt a cold chill up his spine.

Alma.

She stepped into view, eyeing him slightly. Still completely naked, black hair hanging limply off her body.

Now, Michael David Becket knew, it was time. The final battle for his sanity, as he felt the evil slowly creeping in, overtaking his mind.

"It's not going to happen this way!" Becket yelled, fighting with every bit of his will power to keep control of himself. Alma flickered between her beautiful, voluptuous image, and the gaunt, terrifying one. Aristide stirred in the background, climbing to her feet and pressing the button to close the amplifier.

_MY QUEEN!_

Alma straddled Becket in the chair, legs wrapped around his back as she stared in his eyes. She leaned closer, closer... And then...

Her sunken eyes stared into his soul, and Becket felt himself torn from his body, thrown aside and

_Together. Forever._

He stood in a meadow, just like one in Everytown, USA. The grass was long and swayed in the breeze, tickling the hands that he held at his sides. It was nice, serene even. He walked, like he always did, up the rolling hill and to the top.

There was a tree there, that maybe once was beautiful and vibrant, but now it was merely dead and decaying. There was a single branch still intact with the tree, and from that large branch hung a simple swing.

Becket shook his head, revealing that the field was dead, dust blowing softly on the wind. Computer consoles jutted out of the dirt throughout the hill.

"I have to reactivate the console," muttered Becket. Walking through the dead grass to the first console, pulling down the switch.

He felt cold hands grasp each side of his head, throwing him backward with such force he bounced off the ground, twice, spinning wildly around.

"Why does she only care about you!"

It was an inhuman voice, and Becket pulled himself to his feet, staring at his assailant. The skin was gray and cracked, like dried clay. Empty eye sockets, gaunt and haunting, stared into Becket's soul. Whispy white hair floated softly in the breeze. But the rest of the monster was quite recognizable.

"Keegan?"

"Why doesn't she want me?"

_Yes. Yesssss!_

Keegan started stomping toward Becket, before disappearing like ash on the wind. Becket pulled his pistol from its holster, holding it at the ready.

Keegan was nowhere to be found, and Becket cautiously made his way toward the other console. He pulled the switch

_Together. Forever._

down. Keegan materialized behind Becket, striking down with his fist. Becket rolled out of the way, just in time. Keegan's strike destroyed the console, and he stalked toward Becket, who fired his pistol.

Keegan teleported to the side, continuing his pace. Becket fired again, Keegan teleported again. Keegan grabbed Becket by his neck, holding him over his head.

"She's mine! You'll never have her!" Keegan's inhuman, almost Satanic voice was filled with jealousy and rage.

Becket grabbed Keegan's wrist forcing him to put him down. Keegan tossed Becket aside, again, before disappearing once more.

_My love._

Becket grabbed his pistol, sprinting for the last console, as Keegan appeared again, attacking Becket. He punched him in the stomach this time, and Becket doubled over. Becket grunted in pain as Keegan brought his fist square to Becket's chin, causing Becket to collapse backward, blood squirting out of his mouth.

Becket landed in a heap on the dirt, as Keegan grabbed him by the collar of his Kevlar vest and tossed him aside roughly. Becket's back smashed against something metal, and he collapsed to the dirt with a grunt again. Becket turned, coughing, to see the final console. He pulled himself to his feet, pulling the switch as Keegan teleported again.

"Becket!" Keegan grunted, no longer speaking in his inhuman voice, as Becket pulled his pistol to Keegan's head. The Gunnery Sergeant was sobbing now. "Help me!"

Becket pulled the trigger emotionlessly, blowing a hole through Keegan's head. As the former member of Dark Signal collapsed to the ground, he disappeared in a tuft of ash.

Becket stood, breathlessly, panting. Why was he still in this hellhole? He activated the amplifier, he should have been gone by now...

"Hello."

Becket spun, pistol raised, only to see...

Himself.

Eyes glowing a bright yellow, a wicked grin on his face, Michael Becket stared at Michael Becket.

"No..." Michael muttered. "No, this isn't happening."

"It's time, Michael," Becket said, evil smile still on its face.

"Go to hell!" Michael yelled, raising his pistol and firing. The bullets simply passed through Becket.

Becket teleported, standing face to face with Michael.

"Goodbye Michael," Becket said calmly, eyes glowing a bright golden color.

Flash.

His eyes opened, still restrained in his chair. The lights of the amplifier glowed softly in the darkness. With a hiss, the steel ball opened once more, revealing...

Destruction. Death.

Fire, blood and ash spun around the burnt and decaying buildings, swirling and flowing. And standing in the center of it all...

She turned, approaching him in the chair. He broke his wrist restraint with little problem, as she grabbed his hand, lovingly, drawing it slowly to his her distended stomach

_His child. Their child._

and placing it softly, holding it in place lovingly, tightly.

He felt the kick, and he heard the whisper.

"Mommy."

She stood in full glory amongst the destruction. The Mother of the Apocalypse. Alma.

He lifted his head, smiling wickedly, insanely. Eyes glowing a bright yellow, power flowing off them freely.

Sergeant Michael David Becket has been consumed.

* * *

_A war is coming. I've seen it in my dreams. Fire sweeping over the Earth. Bodies in the streets. Cities turned to dust..._

_...  
_

_Retaliation._

* * *

**A/N – Project Origin is finished. **

**Now, the final battle for humanity begins. Will the Point Man, Paxton Fettel and Alma be able to defeat the forces of the Creature and Michael Becket? What about their child? Where do Genevieve Aristide, the Replica forces, the Delta Force and the other survivors of F.E.A.R. and Dark Signal fit in?**

**All will be answered in the final three Intervals of Her Name is Alma.**

**Please review.**


	22. F3AR Interval 03 : Disorientation

**F.3.A.R.**

**Interval 03**

**DISORIENTATION**

**SITUATION:**

F.E.A.R. operative, commander and technical officer as well as SFOD-D operatives Holiday, "Den Mother" and Passalaqua have gone AWOL to eliminate the Creature.

Psychic Echoes of Paxton Fettel and Alma Wade are providing assistance and additional tactical information.

Caution must be exercised as Replica and Delta forces are still in the vicinity.

**MISSION:**

Primary objective is to locate and secure Dark Signal operative Michael Becket.

Alternatively, if Becket has been consumed by the Creature, to eliminate the Sergeant.

Secondary objective is to locate and destroy the Creature.

* * *

We jogged in silence, the four of us, boots scuffing the cracked concrete. All the sounds we made echoed throughout the dusty and empty streets, bouncing off the broken and abandoned buildings.

I gripped my new Sumak RPL Submachine gun in my ungloved hands, eyes darting back and forth to all of the potential hiding places for any leftover Replica forces in the area.

The nearest building had collapsed, rubble was covering most of the street, causing Holiday and I to climb the destruction before turning to help Jin and Betters up. Betters grunted as he climbed, still wearing what would be classified as an office-lackey outfit under his Kevlar vest. Slacks, a white dress shirt and a pair of leather loafers weren't exactly the most tactical outfit possible.

"Thanks," the commander said simply as Holiday and I hauled him to the top of the rubble pile. I turned, as Jin adjusted the large sniper rifle slung across her back, staring out over the ruins.

It still took my breath away, the destruction that I had caused. It looked like Fairport was the site of World War III. Very few civilians were still in the city; I could feel their thoughts softly bouncing off my self-imposed protection.

More importantly, however, I could still feel Becket, which was a good sign. The Creature was nowhere to be found, which was another good sign. If it was leaving Becket alone, then that bought them more time to find him.

"Damn, man," came the voice of Master Sergeant Holiday from behind me. I turned to look at him. "I never believed in any of this shit before last night."

"Like what?"

"Like… I dunno. Ghosts. Zombies. All that shit in the movies, man."

"It's hard to swallow," said Jin, looking at me and shrugging. "If I hadn't seen what I've seen, I wouldn't believe it either."

I nodded in agreement. It was only last night that I had written off all of the visions I had been having as mere hallucinations, not knowing the truth behind the terrifying images I had been seeing.

"Guys," the voice of Private Passalaqua crackled over our headsets. I put a pair of fingers to my earpiece. "I've got major Replica activity over to the east. Over at the, uh, Still Island facility."

"That's where I'm picking up the psychic energies from," I said, glancing at Betters.

"You better hurry, the Deltas noticed it too and they are on their way."

"Thanks, Dennis," said Holiday, nodding at me curtly. I responded in kind, and we climbed down the large rubble pile in a hurry. I turned, helping Jin down as Betters hopped down on his own power.

"Still Island," Betters said, taking his hat off and drawing a forearm across his sweaty forehead. "The old nuclear power plant. That was shut down years ago."

"It's a good bet that Armacham moved in on it afterward," said Jin, shading her eyes with a hand and staring down the empty and fissured road.

"Just like the Rammelmeier compound," nodded Holiday.

That was all the pressure I needed, and I started walking down the street, SMG held at the ready. The rest of my makeshift squad fell into step behind me, weapons ready, tracking along the darkened windows that covered the ruins of Fairport. That's all this place was now, anyway. Ruins.

We walked in silence, adding further to the foreboding atmosphere. A large billboard on the side of the road, darkened with ash, as my eyes were drawn to a large sign, stained dark with ash. My eyes narrowed as I continued walking, my eyes dropping across all of the now familiar buildings. Or what was left of them. They were all mere echoes of their former selves, the majority of them being blown apart, twisted metal girders exposed to the morning air.

I was back in the Auburn Industrial District.

As if I didn't spend enough time here last night.

A can rattled in an alleyway, drawing the aim of four guns down the darkened pathway. We aimed into darkness for a good five minutes, and then with a loud exhale, we all lowered our weapons, looking at each other and grinning sheepishly. It was just the wind.

We continued down the road, walking briskly. I stopped, suddenly, so much so that it even caused a feeling of surprise for me. Holiday bumped into my back, cursing softly. I furrowed my bro, focusing harder than I had been before. Becket… His psychic energy…

"It's gone," I muttered. Jin asked for me to clarify, and I repeated the revelation louder.

"What do you mean it's gone?" Holiday asked; gun trained down the empty street.

I shook my head, unable to explain it. For a second it was there, and then it was gone. I knew that I just hadn't lost my power; I couldn't have, since the Creature's presence was still fresh in my head, but I couldn't put a finger on where it was. Maybe he was being shielded, like before. He was in some sort of facility or chamber that hid his psychic presence. It made sense, somewhat; maybe he was aware that the Creature was after him as well.

He couldn't have moved that far from Still Island, as he was still in that general direction last I sensed. If we moved there, even if Becket wasn't, there might be a few clues or something in that general direction.

I kept walking, not allowing any of my teammates in on my logic. They followed me, hesitantly, questions floating around in their minds but they all failed to voice them. We walked until we reached a large gaping chasm in the middle of the street. Latent negative psychic energy floated softly around the hole, and as I stared down into it, I felt a familiar chill seize my heart.

This was the Vault.

"Armacham blueprints show that there is a service tunnel that runs from their two facilities," crackled the voice of Passalaqua over our headsets. "The tunnel is directly above your position. The explosion must've blown a hole in the side of the tunnel somewhere down there, and you should be able to get in that way."

"Copy," I responded, beginning to climb down the

_"This is how it ends." He said, raising his arms out extremely similar to how Fettel did in his mind. A beam of light washed over Harlan Wade as the cylinder opened, smoke pouring out of the chamber._

_"No you fool!" I yelled even though he could not hear me. An incredible psychic power rushed over me, forcing me to the ground. Alma's power… It was so incredible. Anger, hate and fear cascaded over me, infesting my mind and my heart. I pulled myself back up to the window, all of my wounds reopening from the sheer psychic power. Blood trickled off of my temple, my shoulder, my forearm, and my shoulder._

rubble that made up the crater, leaping from boulder to boulder softly, looking for any gap in the side of the crater.

"Hey!" Holiday yelled from my left. "I found it!"

I clambered over there, slipping and sliding on the loose rubble as I approached the slab of asphalt that extended over the pit. Holiday and Betters grabbed me as I approached, hauling me to the solid footing.

"Thanks."

I glanced down at the hole in the ground, as Holiday shined his flashlight down it. Metal reflected the light softly, revealing the ground to be close enough to drop to. Holiday dropped down the hole first, aiming his SMG both ways.

"Clear," the Master Sergeant said, reaching up to help Jin down the hole. I crouched on one knee, aiming into the open air as Betters dropped down the hole next as well, and I did soon after. Jin, Holiday and Betters all activated their flashlights; they didn't feel the need to equip me with a new one. I mean, I had lost three of them tonight already so I couldn't blame them.

We were in a large train platform, sitting in the middle of a large steel tube. I'm sure Armacham passed this supply tunnel off as a sewer line. Bright fluorescent lights illuminated the platform, but both sides of the tunnel stretched off into darkness. The train was nowhere to be seen, the rails sitting empty in the station but there was something that drew our attention.

"Replica," Holiday said, crouched over one of the bullet-ridden bodies that were strewn about the platform.

I glanced up at the control room, taking into account the shattered windows. Jin stepped on a fragment of glass, glancing down in surprise at the shattered glass on the ground. Betters climbed up the ladder leading to the control room. Sparks erupted from the destroyed console, cascading out of the open windows and down onto the platform.

"It looks like this console's been shot to shit," Betters said, looking in the destroyed glass at the control panel. "There's no way to get the train back here."

"Guess we're hoofing it," I said, glancing down the dark tunnel. At least we know Becket was here.

We hopped down onto the tracks, avoiding the sparking electric portions, and walked slowly down the darkened tunnel, the only light coming from the three flashlights. We jogged down the tracks, weapons held in sweaty hands.

We were getting close. And all of us were feeling the effects of the intense psychic atmosphere.

"Dennis, how much further?" I radioed in.

"The steel above you is kinda disrupting your signal, but it looks like you're about half a klick away from the Still Island station," said Passalaqua.

"Copy."

I was tossed unceremoniously aside, slamming into the side of the steel tunnel loudly.

Gasping, guttural breaths emerged from the darkness, causing the three flashlights to be pulled over to where the sound was coming from. Heavy psychic pressure alerted me what was hiding in the shadows before it was illuminated.

Emaciated, pale white skin reflected the light, sharp bones jutting out of the skin softly. Ratty black hair hung down in strands.

The Creature.

"Run!" I yelled, getting to my feet as all three of my squad mates were frozen in fear. "Get out of here!"

It turned its head toward me, yellow power emanating from the eyeless sockets.

Oh shit.

"Move! Get to Becket!" I roared, much more bravely than I felt, eyes flashing yellow as I threw the Creature aside with a telekinetic blast. Finally, they obeyed sprinting down the darkness, lights bouncing away. The Creature turned and watched them leave, before turning back to me. The only way I could tell where it was was by the glow of its power emanating from its eyes.

What the hell was I doing? This thing was going to kill me.

"Beck… et…" the Creature hissed softly, causing me to blink in surprise. It roared at me, tossing me ass-over-teakettle down the tunnel, bouncing around wildly. I landed, sliding across the dirty ground with a grunt. I threw my arm out, like I was tossing a baseball, throwing a condensed ball of psychic energy at the Creature. It deflected it easily, stalking toward me slowly. I pulled myself to my feet.

Damn. The only way I tossed it aside was by the element of surprise. In a battle of wills, I was dead meat.

An explosion of gunfire at the end of the tunnel caused the Creature to roar in surprise and turn, deflecting bullets. I lifted my SMG and fired into it as well, causing the Creature to howl in pain and teleport away with an earsplitting screech. A pair of flashlights came on at the end of the tunnel, bouncing as they ran toward me.

"You alright?" Jin asked, panting and sweating, as her and Holiday hauled me to my feet.

"Fine," I said, cracking my neck. Without Becket, there was no way we could tear the psychic power from the Creature, and worse, it seemed like it was aware of his presence now.

"We have to get to Becket," I grunted, wobbling down the tunnel on unsteady legs. The psychic pressure the Creature had was…

Incredible.

Holiday offered me a shoulder and I voiced my gratitude breathlessly, moving down the tunnel quickly until I could walk on my own. The track eventually was lit, and we saw Betters standing next to a ladder leading up to another platform. The missing train was sitting in the middle of the platform.

"This is it," Betters said, standing at the bottom of the ladder as we all climbed up the steel steps, being the last one up the ladder. "Still Island nuclear facility."

The lift was all the way at the top of the elevator shaft, and Jin hammered on the button to bring it down, letting her SMG dangle by its sling.

"What the hell… That thing was Alma?" Betters exclaimed, unsure of what he had just seen. The guy was on a radio for the entirety of the initial operation so it made sense that he was a little confused by the whole situation. I glanced around, looking at the damaged crates scattered around the open platform.

"The Creature," I said softly. "Not Alma."

Holiday grunted, as the elevator landed softly, the doors sliding open and revealing the open, empty platform. We stepped into the platform, pressing the up button to send it to the surface. The lift shuddered and moved up, slowly.

"That thing…" Jin said. "I've never felt anything like that…"

"It was intense," Holiday said, wiping sweat off his brow. "How are we supposed to fight that thing?"

"With Becket," I grunted. That shut everyone up. If we were too late…

The elevator shuddered, and the doors slid open, revealing a featureless concrete room. I moved quickly, sauntering past a still forklift. A section of the wall was knocked down, and I climbed through it quickly, eyes widening as I saw something that took me completely by surprise.

Alma's tree. I walked toward it, staring at it with wide eyes. I didn't know how I knew this, but I knew it. It reeked of her presence, her psychic signature, although faint, was all over it. The other three stormed across the courtyard, toward an open chain link fence on the other side.

"Hey!"

I bent over, seeing an old forgotten doll lying on its side, staring up at the morning sky with dirty but glossy eyes. I grabbed the doll, picking it up and staring at it in its eyes.

"Let's move buddy!"

I glanced at the team, who were all standing near the open gate. I slid the doll into one of the oversized pouches on my vest, head still sticking out, and moved over to rejoin my team. They found a ladder leading down into a drainage ditch, so we climbed down it, finding a dead Replica soldier in the shallow and stagnant water and another ladder.

"Alright," I said, taking the safety off of my SMG. "We're getting close. Who knows what we'll find up there, so everyone…"

"On your toes," Betters finished for me, spitting on the ground. I nodded, and climbed up the ladder first, followed by everyone else. The ladder lead to another courtyard, rubble and corpses strewn about. A large, damaged APC sat in the middle of the courtyard, large fluorescent tipped nails still glowing faintly in the morning sunlight. I moved to a corpse, checking it. A Replica, blown apart by some heavy weaponry.

"Hey," said Holiday, motioning for me to come over to the APC. It was sealed up tight, thousands and thousands of brass bullet casings surrounded the personnel carrier.

"Dennis, run a check on this APC registration number for me," Holiday spoke into his radio. He repeated the numbers as Jin, holding her sniper rifle now, searched around the area with her scope. I watched her, as Betters crouched near the APC.

"Umm… Records show that it was registered to Dark Signal…"

We all glanced at each other, before running to the back door, hammering on it.

"Isn't there a release code or… Or- or- or something?" I said, pounding on the door. Holiday nodded, opening the hidden control panel as Passalaqua recited the numbers to open the door as Holiday punched them in. With a hiss, the door cracked open and lowered slightly, we all glanced inside, only to be staring down the barrel of a submachine gun.

"Whoa!" Betters cried. "Check your fire! Friendlies coming in!"

The SMG was lowered, slightly, and a stream of curses in Spanish came forth.

"We're looking for Sergeant Becket," I said, and the gun lowered completely.

"Becket?" the man said inside, getting to his feet and stepping out. He wore the traditional uniform of the Deltas I had encountered in the night. His surname, Morales, was displayed prominently on his chest. "Sergeant Manuel Morales. People call me Manny."

"Jin, Master Sergeant Holiday and Betters," I said pointing them all out. "Where's Becket, Manny?"

"He went inside a while ago with Lieutenant Stokes…" Manny said, trailing off at our cold looks. "What?"

"Where?"

Manny pointed, and we all ran across the courtyard to the closed airlock. I punched the console in frustration. The number pad had taken a direct shot in the fight, it looked like.

"What do we call him?" Manny asked Jin, quietly, although not quietly for me not to hear.

"Point man," she said, and I smiled slightly. My eyes flashed golden as I kicked the door in, flying off its hinges and crashing into the steel wall. Hard.

"Dios mio," Manny whispered.

We ran through the door, through the open door on the other side of the airlock. The only way up was an elevator. We all crammed into it, hammering the button, it took off smoothly.

"Don't tell me this has to do with Alma?"

"This has everything to do with Alma, Sergeant," Holiday said, checking his weapon.

The doors slid open, and we sprinted forward, through another airlock that I tossed open, and out into the morning air, sprinting down the catwalk. I didn't have to use my powers on the next door, however, it was already blown open.

"Shit," I muttered, lifting my SMG. All of my squad did the same, stepping through the open door frame. The airlock was a mess, sparks erupting from a few wires hanging from the ceiling. The light flickered softly, and the steel plating that was the floor was bent and warped. The other door was open as well, and we stepped into the open room warily, weapons up.

What was once a large steel ball hung limply in the middle of the chamber, only supported by a large crane-like arm. The metal was warped and blasted, however, and the chair in the center of the sphere was empty, leather support strips torn up. Blood covered the ground near the chair, running off the side and down the chasm.

"We're too late," the cool, collected voice of Paxton Fettel came from behind me, as he stepped forward into my peripheral vision.

"Stokes!" Manny cried, seeing a figure lying still on the extended bridge. He and the rest of my squad ran forward, while I stayed with the echo of my brother.

"What now?" I asked him. Fettel was silent for a moment. My eyes went wide as I suddenly felt the effects of a pair of psychic signatures, both extremely large, several miles to the east.

Becket was back. And he was with the Creature.

"Fuck," I snarled. "FUCK!"

I turned to Fettel.

"How am I supposed to stop that?"

Fettel remained silent. I ran my hands through my hair, exhaling loudly. If I had Becket, this fight would be easy, but I didn't. I had myself and my own lousy psychic power. I couldn't even control the Replica forces for God's sake.

The woman on the ground, Lieutenant Stokes, coughed as she woke up, causing excitement to flow through the heads of my squad quickly.

"Becket…" she said weakly. "Becket!"

"Where is he?" I asked, approaching the Lieutenant, as she was helped to her feet by Holiday and Manny.

"I don't know what happened," she said. "One minute he was fine, and the next…"

She stared at me, eyes wide.

"She was here. That damn… Corpse lady! Alma! He said…"

"A war is coming," Fettel muttered in my ear.

"He said that a war was coming."

"Bodies in the streets… Cities turned to dust…" I muttered.

"Retaliation," finished Stokes.

"Oh my God," Jin whispered. "They're going to kill everyone."

"I've already seen how this ends," Fettel said. "It's not good."

"No!" I yelled, causing Betters to jump. "I'm not going to let this happen! I can stop them!"

I turned to Fettel.

"Becket's still human, right?"

"Depends on your definition of human."

"Can he die?"

Fettel smiled slightly, knowing what I was getting at.

"Did I?"

"The Creature is obsessed with Becket, and it's only a corpse," I turned back to my teammates, filling them in on my plan. "If we can kill Becket, it might surprise the Creature enough for me to get a jump on it and tear its psychic power away before it has a chance to right itself. That's how we hurt it in the train tunnel. Surprise."

"Hold on, hold on," Stokes said wearily, standing up on her own power, hand clasped over a bleeding wound in her abdomen. "Can someone please explain to me what the FUCK is going on?"

"Where are they?" Holiday asked. I focused for a moment.

"East," I said, skin prickling at the realization. "They went to another city."

"Sounds like we need some air support," Betters said, setting his radio. "Den Mother, come in Den Mother…"

"Hello! What the fuck is going on?" Stokes demanded again.

"We'll fill you both in on the way," Jin said, rummaging through her first aid kit.

"We got a chopper en route, should be here in about thirty minutes," Betters said, returning to the group. "Sounds like you were right. There's a full scale evacuation going on over in New York, they said it was an invasion."

"It's no invasion," Holiday said quietly. "It's a goddamn genocide."

Silence overtook the group, as Jin began working on Stokes' wound.

"What is this thing?" I asked, pointing at the chair.

"It's a telesthetic amplifier," Stokes said, turning and looking at it. "It's supposed to increase your psychic powers. Why?"

She turned back to me, surprised as I was smiling widely. Looks like all that good karma I saved up had finally cashed in, in a major way.

"Strap me in."

* * *

**A/N - 20,729 hits for this story. Holy shit. Thank you all.**


	23. F3AR Interval 04 : Depredation

**F.3.A.R.**

**Interval 04**

**DEPREDATION**

**SITUATION:**  
Sergeant Becket has been consumed by the Creature. They have been sighted in New York City, exterminating and absorbing human beings.

Surviving Dark Signal operatives have joined F.E.A.R. operative, who has used the telesthetic amplifier hidden on Still Island.

Several squadrons of Replica soldiers have been spotted in New York as well. Delta operatives have engaged the Replica forces.

**MISSION:**  
Eliminate Michael Becket and the Creature.

* * *

"Whoa," I said, out of breath as the sphere, broken as hell, opened up, revealing me to my squad again. "Holy shit."

"How do you feel?" asked Stokes, standing at the control panel.

"Incredible…" I whispered, flexing my hands, still restrained by the leather tying my wrists and ankles to the chair I sat in. Incredible was an understatement. Where at first I could only slightly feel the emotions and thoughts of people around me, now I could feel all of the intense emotions and thoughts running through my small squadron's heads.

Luckily, I had taught myself how to shut them out when I had very little power, making it easy to prevent myself from being overwhelmed. And not, rather than just a dull sensation in my head, I could specifically pinpoint where the psychic signatures of Becket and the Creature were, and how specifically large they were.

And they were enormous.

Holiday stepped forward, untying me from the chair as I stepped forward, relishing the sheer amount of power flowing through my body.

I was much, much stronger now. I could tell simply by standing here, allowing power to flow through me. The amplifier was heavily damaged by Becket's psychic breakout, I could tell from the latent psychic energy floating about like pollen on a spring breeze.

Still, the power up that I received was not as powerful as it could have been before the amplifier got damaged. If I had used it before Becket… I could easily destroy the Creature and Becket single-handedly. Just judging simply by my current increase in power, no concrete evidence.

Hey, I can wish right?

"Our ride's here," Betters said as I walked down the extended bridge. The top half of the sphere that shielded the chair from view snapped off of its crane with a crack, dropping off into the darkness of the smoke stack. Holiday and I turned, seeing the rest of the amplifier break off and fall into oblivion, landing on the concrete ground with a loud crash.

We glanced at each other, laughing. Shit, if I had sat in that chair for a minute longer…

Stokes was waiting for me at the end of the bridge, holding what looked like a futuristic assault rifle in her hands.

"Here," she said, offering it to me. "Becket had this with him. It's some sort of… laser cannon."

"Type-12 Particle Weapon," I read from the stamping on the side, smiling. So it was a few steps up from the Type-7 I found in Armacham HQ last night.

Perfect.

We all stepped outside, all six of us. The survivors of Dark Signal decided to sign up, and I wasn't complaining. Two more experienced guns would be exceptionally helpful. Especially since Den Mother radioed back that Replica forces had been seen in the vicinity of New York City.

What the hell were they doing there? More importantly, how did they get over there?

Looks like this was going to be a little more fun than we thought.

The reverberating thumping of the chopper stopped my questioning. The black helicopter floated just above the wall on the left of the catwalk, rotors kicking up dust as they spun quicker than the eye could see. A black rope ladder was tossed down from the cabin, dangling down softly. Without hesitation, Jin grabbed onto the ladder and made her way up, followed one by one by the rest of my makeshift squad. I was last, hoisting myself up the unstable climbing apparatus one step at a time.

Holiday and Betters seized my arms and pulled me up into the safety of the helicopter, as Jin grabbed the ladder and began hoisting it up into the helicopter. Manny had moved forward, grabbing the copilot seat, as I noticed Private Passalaqua was sitting on one of the bench seats, laptop open on his lap, right leg still missing from beneath the knee. He flashed me a thumbs-up, as he tapped the morphine drip that was plugged into his arm.

I guess that's one way to avoid shock.

"Strap yourselves in, boys and girls," the pilot said, flipping a few switches on the roof of the helicopter and pulling away from the derelict power plant.

We all sat down on the two benches in the chopper, as Passalaqua passed me an M4A1 SOPMOD. I exchanged my Sumak with him, checking out the new rifle and making sure the scope is dialed in.

"So," Stokes said, Andra SMG sitting on her lap, a cold look on her face. "What is going on?"

I explained, while the rest of the helicopter was silent. I spared no detail. I told her about our initial objective to take out Fettel. How I was left alone in the Auburn industrial district. The disappearance and subsequent reappearance of Jankowski as the eyeless specter. My first, and almost last, encounter with the little girl in the red dress. Fighting Replica forces. Losing Atwood and MacReady. Meeting Holiday and Passalaqua. Racing Fettel and his Replica forces to Alice Wade. The crash in Auburn and having to find the Rammelmeier Compound alone. Fighting my way through the Rammelmeier Compound. Killing Paxton Fettel and learning of my origin. Seeing Harlan Wade disintegrated by the Creature. Following the Creature through the Vault and fighting the hallucinations. Escaping the facility as it detonated. Trekking through the destroyed city to find radios that worked. The talk with Fettel and Alma. And then how we met her and Manny in the power plant.

"Shit," Betters whispered. "I had no idea about Jankowski."

"Sorry, boss," I grimaced. "I didn't want to add more onto your plate."

"Fuck," Stokes breathed, leaning back and taking off her KERNAL system. She rubbed her eyes. "Fuck."

"That's a good way to put it," Jin said, sitting on the edge of the side door of the helicopter, feet securely on the underhanging rails of the chopper. Her sniper rifle was in her hands now, ready for action. The explanation of my two nights had taken most of the ride, as our pilot alerted us that we were on final approach toward New York City.

"Wow," Holiday muttered, glancing out the open door. It didn't look as bad as Fairport, which was to be expected, but you could still tell that chaos had seized the streets. Smoke plumes rose sporadically from all around the streets, and the chatter of gunfire broke through the still air. The sun was going down, now, adding a red tint to the city.

"Put us down over there," I said, leaning forward into the cockpit and pointing down toward an opening in Central Park. It was the only area we could land safely in the city. The pilot nodded, and I returned to my seat, drawing the bolt back on my M4 and chambering a bullet. Stokes reached into one of the pockets on her vest, pulling out a spare KERNAL system and handing it to me. I thanked her, sliding the blue shooters glasses on my head as Stokes told everyone the frequency that we were on. I toggled a switch on the frame.

INITIALIZING KERNEL...

KERNEL LOADED.

READY.

SYSTEM CHECK... OK

WEAPON LINK... OK

HEART MONITOR... OK

ARMOR MONITOR... OK

"We're gonna do it like this," I yelled over the sound of the blades of the chopper as we got closer to the ground. "Betters, Holiday and Stokes; you're with me! Passalaqua, you're our eyes in the air! Manny, help fly the bird! Jin!"

She turned to look at me, and I suddenly felt a wave of… apprehension? That couldn't be right. I was just nervous before the final battle. Yeah. Just nerves.

"You're in the air! I want you to take the shot when we distract Becket!"

"Right!"

The helicopter floated slightly off the ground, and we all clambered out, dropping to one knee as the helicopter took off again. Jin kept eye contact with me until the chopper was out of sight, and the only sounds we could hear were on the ground with us. Screaming, gunfire, monstrous roars.

This was Armageddon.

"Let's mosey," I said, and we slinked through the park, weapons up and ready for anything. The psychic presences of the Creature and Becket were easily sensed, deeper in the city. They were butchering people, I could feel smaller psychic energies disappearing as they were either murdered or absorbed. I could also feel the small traces of Becket's influence throughout the city.

Replica soldiers.

"Passalaqua," I said, one finger to the headset attached to the KERNAL system. "Find out why Replica forces are in the city."

"You got it, boss."

We left the lushness of the park behind, emerging onto the street. Apparently the Creature and its forces have already been here. A few cars sat still in the streets, doors open. Blood splatters and skeletons covered the streets. Stokes gagged behind me.

We reached an intersection, a street stretching off to our left.

And there he was.

"Becket!" I growled, lifting my M4 and lining him up in the ACOG scope. He turned his head toward me, eyes radiating yellow power, smiling wickedly. He waved at me, before extending his arm, hand open flat, palm down.

He made a fist, and the street rumbled softly, before yanking his fist up.

Instantly, the concrete split open as the ground rose up into a smooth wall that neatly bisected the street, blocking us off from him.

_You can't take her away from me. She's MINE!_

Becket's voice bounced in my head.

"Let's go!" I said, running down the street. We could cut over on the next block if we could get there before he did…

All that good karma I said I had saved up? Yeah, I think I used it all.

A large squadron of Replica soldiers were waiting for us, unleashing a stream of bullets that sent the four of us scurrying for cover. Bullets ricocheted off the taxi Stokes and I were using for cover.

"Apparently Armacham has a dummy corporation here," Passalaqua's voice crackled over our headsets, my heads up display revealing a box with a question mark in it in the bottom left of my glasses. "People were disappearing at an alarming rate, most of them old veterans or cops. I guess Armacham used this corporation as a testing facility for the combat capabilities of the Replica forces."

"That's twisted," I said, leaning out and firing a few shots into a Replica that was too exposed. The helicopter came flying in, and Jin dropped a pair of Replicas with two well placed sniper shots.

"Hey!" Holiday yelled. "We can't fight our way through these guys, man, we need a detour asap!"

"Here!" Betters, who was hunkered down with Holiday, yelled, pointing at the open mouth of an alleyway about ten feet from our position. I agreed loudly, as Stokes and I stood over the taxi and released our entire magazine at the Replica forces. They had to take cover from the fully-automatic streams, which allowed Holiday and Betters to move into the alley.

"You should run know," I said, not looking at Stokes as I unleashed my psychic power, tossing cars through the air toward the Replica forces. She did without hesitation, as I telekinetically lifted the cab we were behind and walked toward the alleyway, the cab absorbing the bullets from the Replica forces. I propped it up and wedged it tightly between the buildings, sealing us off from the Replica forces.

"And they're stronger than you are?" Stokes asked, breathlessly. The adrenaline from the fight was wearing off as we reloaded our weapons. "Shit. This is going to be fun."

I nodded, and we worked our way through the alley, avoiding the few dead bodies that were sprawled out. Holiday held out a hand when we reached the exit of the alley, causing us all to pause. A squad of Delta soldiers were dug in up the street from us, engaging a group of Replica soldiers. Becket was back behind that combat zone. Damn.

"Another detour?" asked Betters, with a wry smile. I nodded, and we hustled across the street, diving into the open and inviting doors of a hotel. Holiday and I slammed our backs into a pair of marble pillars near the entrance, waiting for anyone to come in after us.

After ten minutes, we came to the conclusion that no one saw us, and moved deeper into the hotel. The lobby was nice and well lit. Marble covered nearly every surface, save the ornate mahogany front desk. A waterfall built into the wall gurgled softly. No bodies in this building, so the Creature and Becket had avoided this location so far.

Or so it seemed. I furrowed my brow. The Creature's psychic signature was still a bit off, but Becket wasn't heading toward its location. It was heading…

"Becket's here," I said, lifting my assault rifle. "He's in this building somewhere, but his signature keeps jumping… I can't pin it down."

"Let's split up," said Holiday, hefting his SMG. I nodded,

_"As much as I hate to do this, I think we should split up." He said. "Both of these halls lead places, and we have no idea what we're looking for."_

_"No." I said simply. "It's too dangerous. We don't even know what's out there."_

_"Look." He said, gesturing with his hand. "I'm a professional soldier. I know the risks involved, but the sooner we get this server back online, the sooner your commander can help us out. Then there's no problem."_

_But he didn't know the risks. If somehow that little girl showed up again… But he was right. It would take twice as long for us to find it sticking together._

_"Alright. Be careful though, and call me if you get in any trouble."_

_"No worries." He said, giving me the thumbs up and moving to the right hallway._

_"MacReady." I called after him, and he turned and looked at me. "Good luck."_

glancing at Stokes' bandaged torso. Blood was leaking through the bandages slightly.

"I'll go with Stokes," I said, and Holiday nodded. Her injury could hamper her partner, but my psychic ability would make up for it. "You take Betters."

"We'll take the first floor and then the odd numbered floors from there," Holiday said, as Betters moved behind the desk and cleared it. He gave the all-clear sign. "Y'all take the even numbered floors."

"See you in a few," I said, as Stokes and I went to the stairwell. I kicked in the door, moving into the stairwell with my weapon up. Empty. We took the stairs, weapons lifted up and pointed up the stairwell, making sure we wouldn't be surprised.

"So," Stokes said, not taking her eyes away from the sight of her weapon. "What's it like?"

"What's what like?" I asked, pulling open the door to the second floor. She moved left, I moved right, clearing both sides of the hallway before we started moving down the hall together. The carpet was clean, and aside from an abandoned maid cart, the hall was completely empty.

"You know… your powers," she said, looking at me. "What's it like?"

I thought about it before answering.

"It's… hard to put into words," I admitted, shrugging. "When I just augment my physical abilities time just… sort of slows down. Like in that movie with the computer hackers."

"_Swordfish_?"

"No, the other one… Never mind," I chuckled slightly. The hallway was clear, so we moved back to the stairwell. Becket wasn't here. "Other than that. It's just like an itch in your brain. And when you scratch it…"

"You can lift taxis with your mind?"

"Yeah."

We emerged into the stairwell again, weapons up, and moved up to the fourth floor. We didn't get very far though. Gunfire erupted in our headsets.

"Shit! We found him! First floor!"

Betters sounded panicked, causing Stokes and I to leap down the stairs several at a time. We emerged from the stairwell, running over to the desk quickly. I leapt over it, sliding across the polished wood like it was the hood of the General Lee, and ran through the open door behind it, Stokes hot on my heels. The hallway was shaped like an L, and we saw Betters back into the intersection, firing at something down the hall. He dove aside, as gunfire ripped apart the drywall. He reloaded his shotgun, feeding shells into it.

"What's the situation?" I asked, approaching him.

"There's something… down the hall," he muttered, trying to shove shells into his shotgun with trembling hands.

"Where's Holiday?" Stokes asked, concerned.

"He went after Becket…" Betters said, finally reloading and cocking his shotgun. "This thing came out of the kitchen after he was gone."

Thing?

I leaned around the corner, seeing a Delta standing stiffly in the middle of the hallway. It held its assault rifle in one hand limply, but something was wrong. Bullet holes riddled the body, and red strands hung off of it, trailing around the corner.

"That thing isn't alive…" I said, confused. "What the hell is it?"

A spray of gunfire sent me ducking back into cover. Betters leaned out and fired at it, causing the thing to stumble back several steps. I stepped out as well, firing semi-automatic at the red strands. The bullets went through them, phasing through them easily.

The strands are psychic energy.

I reached out, mentally grabbing the strands and ripping them out of the corpse, which caused it to collapse in a heap. A roar echoed down the hallway, and heavy stomping reverberated the walls. We all stepped out of cover, weapons trained on the next bend in the hallway. A large man in chef's whites came tearing around the corner, staring at us and roaring. Red energy burned in its eyes.

"Oh this is so not good," said Stokes before we opened fire, bullets ripping apart the chef-monster. It started running at us, spinning slightly as bullets impacted its body. Halfway down the hallway it collapsed, sliding down the hall and lying still. Blood stained the taupe walls of the hallway.

A spray of gunfire from behind us caused Betters to collapse with a grunt, and Stokes and I turned and blasted the Replica soldier. I knelt down worriedly next to our commander.

"I'm fine!" he yelled, clutching his leg, as blood soaked the black slacks. "Kevlar stopped most of them. I'm fine! Go after Holiday!"

"Don't die, Rowdy."

"Same to you, bud," the commander of F.E.A.R. said with a grin, as Stokes and I went down the hallway, stepping over the body of the chef-monster.

We emerged in a back alley, near a pair of large dumpsters. Holiday was nowhere to be seen, but the brass casings of bullets alerted us we were on the right path at least.

"Let's go."

"Right."

We emerged from the alleyway into a scene of chaos. A large group of civilians were running, screaming. We weaved our way through the throng, guns pointed at the sky to avoid any more panic. The helicopter was cycling above us, as Jin fired several shots into an area past the crowd.

Stokes and I emerged to see Holiday pinned down by several Replica soldiers, and beyond the Replicas…

Becket.

We slid into cover behind the burning husk of a car that Holiday was using for cover.

"Where's Betters?" he asked, as Stokes leaned out of cover to blast a Replica.

"He's working his way here," I said, and Holiday nodded knowingly. There were a few Replica soldiers, not too many to kill. It was weird. With Fettel controlling these bastards, they were cold, efficient and tactical. With the Creature or Becket controlling them, they were… stupid, for lack of a better term.

Wait a minute.

"I have an idea," I grunted, closing my eyes and focusing, seeping my essence into the minds of the Replica forces. I opened my eyes, flowing my power into the Replica forces and wrestling control away from Becket. The Replica forces stiffened, and then stopped firing.

I was controlling them.

_Get the civilians out of here._

"Yes, sir!" came the voice of the Replica, distorted by the mask they all wore. My squadron of Replicas ran after the civilians, firing at and killing another squad of Replicas that emerged from one of the buildings.

I turned my attention back to Becket, who stepped forward, still smiling widely.

"Becket!" Stokes yelled. "Becket! Stop!"

He didn't answer, instead tossing aside the cover we were using, leaving us exposed. He stalked toward us, slowly, relishing his steps.

"Shit…" I muttered, firing a few shots at him. Stokes and Holiday did the same thing, but Becket held a hand up, stopping all of the bullets a good foot or so from him. He waved his hand, causing them to drop to the asphalt with a tinkle.

He teleported, appearing a few inches from me. He punched me across the face; the force and surprise of it sent me reeling, blood trickling out of my mouth. I staggered back, as he threw another punch. I countered this one, as Stokes and Holiday scrambled away. I threw a punch, and he countered this one as well, his cocksure grin never leaving his face. I saw my reflection in his eyes, my own eyes matching his. Golden, power flowing from them freely. I thrust my head forward, headbutting him in the forehead. Becket collapsed backward, as I performed a sweep kick, knocking his legs out from under him.

Becket collapsed with a grunt, as I brought my foot up for an axe kick. Becket teleported again, as I kicked down with such force it split the concrete. I turned, following his psychic energy, and drew my pistol, firing at him before he appeared again. His Kevlar vest stopped the bullets, and he teleported again with a growl.

He appeared behind Stokes and Holiday, backhanding Stokes, who fell to the pavement. He kicked Holiday, sending the Delta operative flying across the street with a grunt. He bent over digging a pair of fingers into Stokes' bullet wound. She howled in pain, grabbing his arm, trying to get him to alleviate his grip.

"Should I fire?" Jin asked in my ear, panicked.

"No! We need the Creature here!" I said, firing the rest of the magazine of my Beretta at Becket. He teleported again, and Stokes collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

"Your sharpshooter in that helicopter," Becket's voice came from everywhere, but nowhere at the same time. "Tough shot to kill me. Think she's up to it?"

He appeared behind Holiday, who spun around, weapon raised. Becket slapped his gun aside, grabbing Holiday by the neck and lifting him, slamming him down into the concrete. I ran forward, jump kicking at Becket. He teleported again, leaving only black ash where he was.

God

_She's here._

dammit. Jankowski's voice echoed unbidden in my mind for the first time in several nights.

"You alright?" I asked Holiday, helping him up.

I was forced to my knees by a psychic presence. No way… I turned my head, my old wounds opening again, blood spilling down onto the pavement. I blinked blood out of my eye as it ran from the wound in my temple, turning my head.

The Creature was here.

Holiday was panting, and Stokes moaned in pain and terror. Becket materialized next to it, leaning forward and kissing it passionately. I forced myself to my feet, staring resolutely at the pair.

I blinked.

I didn't realize it in the tunnel, it was so dark.

The Creature was pregnant.

Its distended stomach adding to the corpse look, and Becket lovingly put his hand over its stomach.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Becket turned to me, still grinning, as blood ran down his forehead from my headbutt earlier.

"Now," he said, laughing. "Now I kill you for my queen!"

He teleported, appearing behind Holiday.

"Look out!" I roared, but it was too late.

Becket seized both of Holiday's forearms, pulling them straight behind him as the Master Sergeant screamed in pain. He kicked Holiday in the small of the back, and with a sickening tear and snapping sound, both of Holiday's arms were torn off at the shoulder.

"NOOOOO!" I roared, as Stokes screamed. Holiday took a few steps forward in surprise.

"Da… dammit…" Master Sergeant Douglas Holiday grunted, before collapsing face forward onto the concrete.

Dead.

"Oops," Becket said with a laugh, tossing Holiday's arms aside. He teleported again, appearing behind Stokes.

This time, even in my shocked state, I reacted. I unleashed a psychic maelstrom at Becket who was tossed into the building forcefully.

"Stokes!" Betters yelled, limping out of the alleyway, as Stokes crawled over to him. "We gotta get outta here!"

Becket pulled himself free of the imprint he made in the building, and I opened my stance, one hand pointed at Becket, the other at the Creature.

I was fucking dead if they both attacked me at the same time, but…

The Creature was just standing there, watching me. I could feel hate and anger radiating off of it, just like in the Vault, but I could also feel surprise and interest.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice said from behind me as the owner stepped forward into my peripheral vision. "Aren't you sad you killed me now, brother?"

"Can you help me?" I asked Paxton Fettel, as he crossed his arms.

"I can try."

Becket landed heavily on the concrete, as Fettel's eyes began glowing.

"Two! Three! It doesn't matter!" Becket roared, laughing maniacally. "I'll kill all of you. ALL OF YOU!"

Waves of psychic energy began crashing into us, and I managed to block some of it, somehow. Fettel teleported as Becket stepped forward, appearing behind him. Fettel unleashed a psychic blast that sent Becket face first into the concrete. He was preparing another attack before he was thrown aside with a grunt.

The Creature had entered the fight.

Becket teleported, appearing beside me and throwing an elbow into my side. I grunted, all the wind leaving me, as he grabbed me by my throat and tossed me into the middle of the street. I could feel Fettel and the Creature battling, and the psychic echo of my brother was losing. Badly. Becket stepped forward, grinning wildly, throwing a huge maelstrom of psychic energy toward me, one that completely dwarfed the one I had used earlier. I tried to counter, throwing out my left hand focusing all of my energy.

Our powers were at a stalemate, as sweat poured down my face and blood trickled out of my various wounds. But then Becket did something.

He laughed.

Instantly, my own power was broken, and with a cry of pain, the flesh on my left hand was ripped off, and it continued down to my elbow as I was thrown, ass over teakettle, down the street, bouncing and cutting myself on the concrete. I landed on my stomach, sliding several feet as I groaned in pain.

My world blurred, and my head throbbed. I opened my eyes with an extreme amount of effort; first noticing that Betters and Stokes were huddled down behind a car to my right.

And then I noticed my left arm. Up to my elbow…

There was nothing. A few tendrils of muscle hung on the bloodstained bone, as blood pooled around my forearm. The bones were barely hanging together by the little bit of flesh that still remained.

Becket appeared in front of me, hand raised, ready to make a killing stroke…

He stopped.

"No!" Becket snarled, his grin leaving his face for the first time I've seen. "No, no, no!"

The power flowing from Becket's eyes faded, and tears ran down his face.

"I can't keep it away much more," Becket said, grunting in pain. "Please! Your sniper has to kill me!"

What the hell?

"Becket!" Stokes yelled.

"Stokes, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I couldn't do anything," said Becket sorrowfully. "I'm losing control! Please!"

"Point?" the voice of Jin crackled over my headset as the helicopter lowered into position. I could see the sunset reflect off of Jin's scope.

"Hurry!" Becket's eyes began radiating power again.

"POINT?"

"TAKE THE SHOT!" Becket yelled.

"NOW, JIN!" I yelled, with more power than I thought I had left. Her rifle cracked, and all was still for a moment.

The bullet ripped through Becket's head, blood splattering into the air. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head as the bullet exited through his forehead, impacting dangerously close to where I lay prone. Blood cascaded down as Becket fell to his knees, and then onto his stomach, his lifeless eyes staring at me as his psychic power faded away from him.

_Thank you._

Becket was dead.

_**BECKET!**_

The Creature's voice exploded into all of our heads, and Betters collapsed to the ground in pain. The Creature materialized in front of Becket, bending down and picking up his body. It howled, a wordless howl of pain. I managed to get to my knees, as I noticed Fettel was lying motionless on the ground a few feet away from me.

I had to tear its power from it… I had to while we had the element of surprise.

The Creature threw its hand up, pointing at the helicopter.

"Shit!" the voice of Manny came in over our headsets as the helicopter hurriedly tried to get away.

"Point?" Jin's panicked voice was the next thing I heard from the chopper.

And the last.

The helicopter exploded in a burst of heat and fire, collapsing into a building and then down onto the ground.

No.

No way.

Jin…

The Creature howled again, as psychic energy began gathering around it. Sound seemed to fade from my world, as tunnel vision focused on the remains of the helicopter. Betters and Stokes grabbed me by my arms, pulling me across the street.

"We're not gonna make it," I said. Betters yelled something at me, but I couldn't hear it.

Fettel appeared in front of us, arms wide. He turned back to me, blood leaking out of his mouth, smiling slightly.

"This isn't how I figured it would end," he said, a wry grin on his face. "Good luck, brother. It's all down to you."

"Paxton!" I yelled, sounding like a child in my mind.

The Creature unleashed a vast eruption of psychic power, buildings disintegrated under the power, as Stokes and Betters hunkered down behind me. Fettel took the attack head on, disintegrating as well.

_My baby._

A little girl in a red dress stepped into my vision, and after that…

My world went black.


	24. F3AR Interval 05 : Aggregation

**F.3.A.R.**

**Interval 05**

**AGGREGATION**

**SITUATION:**

The Creature has destroyed New York City. Millions are dead.

Jin Sun-Kwon, Douglas Holiday, Dennis Passalaqua and Manuel Morales have been killed in action. The psychic echo of Paxton Fettel has been destroyed as well.

**MISSION:**

Destroy the Creature.

* * *

My eyes fluttered open, slowly.

Ash floated on the air, as an ominous black cloud blocked out the light from the sun.

A figure bent over me, and my eyes adjusted to tell who it was.

"He's waking up," Stokes said, her face streaked with soot. Betters leaned over me as well, hat missing, gray hair blacked by ash.

"It's over," I muttered, as they seized me by my armpits and hauled me into a sitting position. Stokes uneasily eyed the exposed bone, flakes of ash sticking to the blood that coated the remnants of my left forearm and hand. I reached out with a trembling hand, wiping ash off the sticky blood as my hand hung limply.

I turned my eyes upward, and my heart stopped for a full second as I saw what devastation the Creature had caused. New York City was no more, nothing stood for miles. A pile of ashes stretched as far as the eye could see, and I sensed no living things within the ring of devastation.

"It's over," I repeated softly, shaking my head. I couldn't stop it.

My plan had totally backfired. Although Becket was dead, which reduced the threat to humanity by half, I couldn't stop the creature.

Worse, all of my friends… Holiday, Passalaqua, Manny…

Jin…

They were all dead. All because I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't beat Becket; I had to rely on the biggest _deus ex machina _for him to stop himself. And now the Creature was out there, and it was pissed.

"What?" I said, looking at Betters. He was saying something but I was too busy wallowing in self-pity to hear.

"I said the Creature has been seen in D.C.," he said, stoic, staring at me. "We need to get there."

"Sorry, Betters," I said, getting to my feet. "It's over."

"How did we survive?" Stokes asked, looking around at the destruction. "We should be dust, like everyone and everything else."

Her voice was trembling. I couldn't blame her. Everything that had happened in the last few hours put everything that I had experienced the last few nights to shame.

"Fettel," I said slowly, trying to put it together. "He shielded us, somehow."

Stokes raised an eyebrow quizzically, but made no response other than that. I got to my feet, brushing myself off, boots sinking in the ash slightly. My skeleton hand hung limply at my side, no muscle to control it caused no control over it. Luckily, it looked like the wound had been cauterized at the elbow, preventing blood loss.

I felt a familiar presence, a comforting presence, to my left. I didn't bother turning, I already knew who it was.

"Jesus Christ!" Stokes yelled. I turned and looked, seeing her lift her SMG up and at a little girl, slowling walking toward us, her head was down and her black hair hung limply over her face and down to her red dress.

I felt chills run up my spine. Her presence still terrified me, even knowing who and what she was now.

"Stokes… how can you see her?" I asked, and Stokes looked at me in surprise.

"You mean you know about this thing?"

"Alma," Betters breathed, terror accenting his voice. I stepped forward, addressing the psychic echo of my mother. I glanced down at my vest, seeing the head of the doll sticking out. It was dirty and damaged from my fight with Becket, but I pulled it out anyway, extending it out toward her. She squeaked in surprise, grabbing it and holding it tightly.

"I thought… I thought I would never see it again…" she whispered, as Stokes lowered her weapon. I couldn't feel her thoughts, or Betters'. My abilities were just about drained from the fight with Becket; the psychic powers tank was just about empty.

"You're still an echo, how can they see you?" I asked Alma. She looked up, her hair falling away from her face, revealing it. A confused look fell across her face.

"I'm… not sure," she admitted, looking back down to her doll, holding it tightly. "Maybe the remnants of Paxton and Becket are lingering and looking for a new host?"

"Like possession?" Stokes demanded, nervous.

"No," Alma said, shaking her head. "There's not enough left to fully possess you. Just lingering energy."

She saw my arm for the first time, stepping forward. She passed a hand over my forearm, clearing all of the blood off of the bone, revealing the shiny white surface. She put her hands together, fingertips touching, like she was playing cat's cradle, and pulled them apart. Red tendrils of psychic energy hung between her fingers. She touched her fingers to each of my joints and the tips of the bone. The tendrils hung there, and she brought the ends of them all together, holding them all. She slapped me in the forehead, smiling slightly.

The feeling in my hand returned suddenly, and I spun my hand around, bringing it up to my face. I flexed all of my fingers, eyebrows rising in surprise as they all bent to my will. Alma giggled, passing a hand through the tendrils again, causing them to disappear, although I still retained control over my skeletal limb.

Cool.

My face fell, however, as Alma turned and walked forward in the ashes, holding her doll by its arm.

"The Creature is still alive," I said, spitting on the ground. "Even with my arm working, there's nothing I can do. I'm drained from my fight with Becket."

"There are... still options," Alma said, turning to face me. "I was too afraid to help Paxton earlier, but now… we have little choice."

My skin prickled. I didn't like the way she was talking.

"What're you saying?"

"A synchronicity event."

We all turned to look at Betters, who looked just as surprised as we did. He cleared his throat before continuing.

"Remember earlier? There was an incident when Alma and Fettel's minds connected when he was young. Armacham called it a synchronicity event."

"Our minds were attached," Alma said, nodding. "But it is dangerous."

"How?" I crossed my arms, suddenly cringing at the feel of bare bone against my skin. Alma turned, facing the destruction. She didn't respond.

"Mother," I started, stepping forward slowly. She turned, tears streaking down her face.

"I'm scared."

What did she have to be afraid of?

"Our minds don't simply connect," she said, slowly. Stokes and Betters closed in on us. "I'm possessing you. You will be dropped deep into our subconscious.

"What does that mean?"

"You will face whatever is down there. Most likely… our deepest fears."

"Oh, great," Stokes commented.

"If you can escape the subconscious, you will fight off my influence, but you can choose to maintain the mental link. This will allow our powers to be combined."

"Can't he just consume you? Like Alma…" Stokes trailed off at the little girl's cruel stare. "I mean, the Creature did?"

"She'll be lost," I responded simply. Sure, I could absorb my mother, but then her echo would be lost, and I would only simply have her powers.

I couldn't do that.

"What happens if it doesn't work?" Betters asked. Alma looked down again.

"He'll be trapped within his mind," she said softly. "Brain dead. I will be occupying an empty shell with only my powers."

I exhaled, turning around and walking a few steps away. So I'd have to battle the nightmares of myself and my mother, who was tortured and forced into a coma by her father. Or be lost within said nightmares forever.

How delightful.

"I guess we don't have much choice," I said softly, resolutely. "What's one more horror-filled night? I mean I should be able to come back as an echo…"

A light bulb suddenly clicked on in my head. I turned back to the little girl version of my mother.

"Will you still have influence here?"

"Perhaps. But you won't return as an echo, since you're still alive."

"What about Becket?" Stokes asked, knowing where I was going. "Can he come back?"

Alma blinked.

"Maybe. His echo might not be free of the taint of the Creature, however."

"It's a risk we'll have to take," I said. "Just like the synchronicity event. Time isn't on our side, so let's get this done."

Alma nodded, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around my waist tightly. She took a step back after a minute, tears still streaming down her face.

"Ready?"

I nodded, mouth dry. She nodded as well, closing her eyes.

"Good luck, buddy," Betters said.

Alma's eyes snapped open, yellow irises burning into my soul.

_I hate you daddy!_

My eyes snapped open, taking into account my surroundings. I was spread eagle on some pavement, a parking lot it looked like. I pushed myself to my feet, the bones that made up my left hand and forearm were psychically enhanced to stop them from snapping. I looked around, aware that the sound of wind whipping about filled the air. Everything was hazy, constantly shifting like a heat wave.

I turned, noticing that this parking lot was entirely surrounded by featureless concrete walls that stretched upward into oblivion. I turned, facing the one thing in front of me.

It was a building, a hodgepodge of buildings to be more precise. It was a hospital, a warehouse and a skyscraper, all at the same time. The logo of Armacham Technology Corporation flashed on the building, before disappearing again. I walked forward, touching the doorknob of the door.

_And the door fell off its hinges with a huge clang. I winced at the noise, entering the decrepit building, holding my pistol in the weaver stance. _

I looked down in surprise, suddenly feeling the weight of an AT-14 pistol in my hand. I glanced around, the shifting walls making it difficult to understand exactly where I was standing. It appeared to be a warehouse, shelves standing around freely. The shelves were fading, like the omnipresent wind was blowing dust off of them constantly. I walked forward, seeing figures materialize in the shadows of the room before disappearing.

_You were born here, in this place._

A set of stairs led to another door. I walked forward, twisting the doorknob and opening it.

_I was there._

I stood on a roof. Alma's tree jutted out of the concrete a few feet away. She sat on that swing, Alma. I walked forward, holding my pistol loosely in my still flesh-covered hand.

_A brown blur appeared in my peripheral vision, and my vision exploded into stars. I felt myself sway backwards and fall on the ground. I lay there for a few seconds, trying to get oriented._

Paxton Fettel stood over me, blood dribbling down from his mouth and over his chin. He stared at me, his eyes betraying nothing.

_Take her back to the Vault. _

I looked up, seeing a pair of men, both wearing hazmat suits, seize Alma by her arms and haul her off the swing. She was sobbing, crying, as she reached back for her doll, but the men dragged her along. I glanced back to Paxton Fettel…

It wasn't him anymore.

Harlan Wade stood over me; wearing the exact same outfit I had encountered him in while in the Vault. His eyes burned red, no energy flowing off of them.

He roared at me, his mouth opening in an impossible angle, serrated teeth glistening in the light coming from nowhere.

"Shit!" I yelled, lifting my pistol and pulling the trigger. The muzzle flash exploded forth, and Harlan Wade disappeared in a tuft of ash.

I got to my feet unsteadily, moving forward slowly. A door had materialized in the roof ahead of me, and I walked toward it, opening the heavy steel door with some effort. It led to a hallway, which shrunk as it went on. I walked forward, eventually being forced to crawl through the small hallway.

_Pipes ran along the right side of the small space, and the left was bare concrete. I inched myself forward, crawling on my hands and knees, when the flashlight flickered and died, plunging me into darkness._

I was unaware that I even had a flashlight. I slapped it, turning it back on.

The Creature was crouched in the crawlspace, hunched over, long limbs bent unnaturally. Her black hair obscured her face, but her glowing golden eyes punctured my soul. She crawled at me, unnaturally fast, like a spider.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" I screamed,

_leveling and unloading my assault rifle at the girl. My heart literally stopped, and I was seized by the icy grip of terror. One of my bullets struck the pipe, causing it to burst open in a cloud of steam. I emptied my entire drum magazine, still holding down the trigger as the gun clicked empty._

My flashlight was gone, replaced with an assault rifle.

Crunch.

I turned slightly, seeing the concrete crawlspace being destroyed.

Harlan Wade was there, roaring, eyes burning, as he swiped the concrete apart. I yelled, crawling forward quickly, scraping my knees on the concrete, as he continued to get closer and closer. I emerged from the crawlspace, arriving in

_I was in a hospital corridor. _

I was back in that corridor, the one I entered whenever I subconsciously delved into Alma's mind. I moved forward, not being surprised as my assault rifle faded away like smoke. A pair of elevator doors sat on the far wall, and I walked toward them. As I approached, they dinged open, revealing Armacham tower.

I stepped through the doors, through a puddle of blood. I stood in a hallway I recognized instantly. This was where I turned on the power to allow Holiday and Aldus Bishop to escape.

Where Alma attacked me.

The gates were down, effectively blocking me from continuing any further into the building.

Reality began to distort around me. A pair of nightmares flew out, their ghostlike bodies still partially see through, like smoke. However, their white eyes burned. I slid aside as they flew out me, trying to reach out with my psychic ability…

And found nothing. Fortunately, they disappeared after they made their swiping attack at me.

"Point," Jin's voice crackled over my radio. "Point. Help me."

"Jin?"

"Help me."

"Where are you?" I yelled into the radio, but only the soft noise of static responded. The elevator doors slid open, not revealing the corridor like I thought it would.

It opened to a new location, a warehouse-type area. The bare floorboards creaked as I stepped on them. The omnipresent wind whipped my hair around. A cubicle sat in the middle of the room, and I skirted around it, avoiding it like the plague.

I still had chills from my scare in the Armacham offices.

A simple cargo lift sat on the other side of the room, doors open. Inviting. I stepped inside, knowing for a fact that Jin was dead. I saw her die. So, why did I so willingly answer her radio message? It was part of my fears. It had to be.

The elevator moved down, but up at the same time. I can't describe it. I saw the elevator moving down, but I felt that it was moving upward. My stomach lurched at the perversion of physics. The cage doors revealed that we were descending, or ascending, into a hospital.

The hospital that was Alma's mind.

The lift shuddered, stopping, and I pulled the doors open. I was inside the lobby, which was silent. Still. A large mirror, not unlike one you would see in a funhouse, sat on the wall directly to my right. I looked at it, seeing my own reflection, wearing my F.E.A.R. combat gear from the beginning of the night. My long black hair still hung limply about my face. My reflection moved, unbidden, reaching out and holding its Sumak SMG for me to grab. I did as it did, pulling the submachine gun out of the mirror and pushing my head through the sling.

The mirror shattered into a million fragments. I turned my head, looking toward various doors in the room. I walked forward, to the one I always went through when invading Alma's mind. I pulled the door open, entering…

The exact same room.

I turned, seeing a concrete wall behind me. No evidence of the door ever existing.

_She told me so many things…_

I turned back, facing the room once more. I tried another door.

Once again, I ended up back in the exact same room.

"What the...?"

Now, everything that I had seen tonight had been strange, no doubt. The psychic battles, the reanimated corpse, the cloned soldiers, but I could believe all of them because no matter how perverse and twisted they were; they all were grounded in the realm of possibility. But this place… these nightmares. There was no plausibility, no rhyme or reason to this design.

I kept trying doors, only to constantly be returned to my starting position. This didn't make any sense. Nothing I did worked!

My legs gave out and I sat down, hard, on the cold, shifting linoleum of the floor. I looked up, across the room.

Someone was there.

"Jankowski?" I scrambled to my feet, staring at the ghostly image of my former partner. The specter turned its eyeless gaze toward me.

_Follow me._

It floated, drifting lazily through the first pair of doors I went through, where Alma usually took me. I followed it, tossing the doors open and finally escaping the room. I had walked into what looked like a prison hallway, six glass doors spaced evenly throughout the hall. At the end was a non-descript steel door.

"You aren't coming, are you?" Jin wailed over my radio. "I don't want to die!"

_I tried to forget._

I glanced in the first cell door, as Jankowski continued to glide down the hallway, and took a step back in surprise.

It was Charles Habeggar, the man whose corpse we discovered in the back room of the first warehouse we checked. Habaggar stared forward, a blank look in his eyes, constantly pounding his head against the glass door. Blood was already splattered against the glass, but that didn't deter Habeggar.

I turned looking in the next window. It was Bill Moody, another victim of Fettel's cannibalism. There was a fish tank in the room, Moody standing behind it. I made eye contact with him, the same blank stare, and he instantly plunged his face into the fish tank, holding it under the water.

I blinked, turning to the next door. Aldus Bishop sat, shirtless, whipping himself in the back with a strand of barbed wire. Jankowski faded into ash as he reached the door on the other side.

_I tried so hard to forget._

"Jin," I said into my radio, mouth dry from the images I was seeing, my rational mind abandoning me. "Jin, where are you?"

"I'm going to die alone here," she sobbed. "Alone. With them."

"You're not going to die, I'm coming, Jin."

Passalaqua sat in the next cell, sawing off his leg with a combat knife.

I glanced inside, and then looked away from the next cell. Douglas Holiday stood, as a mirror image of the Master Sergeant nailed the standing Holiday's arms back on. I grimaced, turning from the sight and moving down the hall some more.

Alice Wade sat in the final cell. She smiled at me, although her eyes were empty, like the others. She continuously slashed her wrists with a bloody piece of glass, blood pooling on the ground.

I turned away, addressing the final door. With my skeleton hand, trembling softly, I reached forward, twisting the knob and

"_So," Jin asked me, eyes twinkling in the soft lighting of the restaurant. "What made you transfer to F.E.A.R.?"_

_I paused for a moment, swallowing my mouthful of food._

"_I don't really know," I said, shrugging and reaching for the glass of wine. "After my service, it seemed to be the only logical step." _

"_Green Berets, right?"_

"_Yeah," I said, setting down my wine glass, giving her a roguish wink. "Nothing as impressive as a Marine Scout Sniper, though."_

"_You read my file? How romantic."_

The memory was unbidden, and consumed me so quickly, it sent me to my knees. Right after I transferred to F.E.A.R., I wanted to get to know my new teammates, so I ended up taking Jin to dinner. I got kinda side-tracked after that, never bothering to meet up with Betters or Jankowski.

I grabbed on to a table next to me, to help pull myself to my feet again. Shit, this was starting to be much more than I expected. And how was I supposed to know when I fought off Alma's influence?

I guess it would be when I woke up.

I had grabbed onto a bloody, steel table. Leg harnesses jutted in the air, leather straps hanging loosely for them. A ratty pillow sat on the other end of the table.

"Jesus."

This is where Alma delivered me.

"You remind me of my brother."

I spun, hearing Paxton Fettel's voice. A window sat in the wall behind me, and I turned and moved toward it. Fettel sat at a desk inside the next room, across from someone, utterly at ease. He held a cigarette in his hand, the smoke rising softly.

"I didn't meet him until the night he killed me. We are…" he stubbed his cigarette out, smiling slightly. "An interesting family. As you're aware, I'm sure."

The head of the man sitting across from Fettel spun entirely around quickly, and I screamed in surprise and fear. Harlan Wade roared at me again, standing up and body turning to match his head. He sprinted at the window, running at it and shattering it into…

A blank concrete wall.

"What the fuck…" I whispered, trembling slightly.

"Help me! Please!" Jin's voice crackled over my headset. I spun, seeing a freestanding door in the middle of the room.

"I'm coming!" I yelled, running through the door

_She kicked the door of her apartment closed, tongue fighting mine for dominance. I slammed her against the wall, eliciting a moan from her. Both of our hands were on each other, fumbling with zippers and buttons and clasps that held together our clothing. She stepped out of her dress as it pooled around her ankles, jumping up and wrapping her legs around my waist._

_She threw her head back as I attacked her neck with my mouth. Luckily, all purpose gear turtlenecks were part of the F.E.A.R. standard issue equipment._

"_Over there," Jin panted, gesturing to an open door. I carried her, tossing her unceremoniously on the large bed before jumping on top of her._

Flash.

The door I entered wasn't what I wanted to see.

Flash.

I mean, I knew she was dead, but this…

Flash.

No one should have to see this.

Flash.

Jin Sun-Kwon lay still in a puddle of her own blood. Tears ran down her face as blood trickled out of her mouth and the various claw-slashes that covered her torso.

Flash.

Her camera constantly took pictures of her body, lying still in the room that was Paxton Fettel's cell. I stepped forward, grabbing the camera and stopping it from the constant photos.

A roar sounded behind me, and I turned my head, not surprised.

"These are my demons," I said, looking back at Jin's body. "The people I failed to protect. Their blood stains my hands, and their bodies line my mind. But you…"

I turned, facing Harlan Wade, who was standing at the end of a long hallway. His red eyes burning into mine, now softly glowing yellow.

"You are her demon. And I'm not going to let you torture Alma anymore!"

I raised my SMG, pulling the trigger as Harlan ran toward me, mouth opening in an angle that made it seem dislocated. The SMG disappeared in a cloud of ash, causing me to dive aside as the monster that was Harlan Wade crashed through Jin's corpse and ran into the wall. I stood, power radiating through my body.

I reached out with my mind, seizing Harlan by the neck, lifting him off the ground. The man struggled, roaring and spluttering.

"For all the pain you caused," I said, reaching out again and seizing both of his arms. "For all of the suffering you put my mother, your own daughter, through. For the mistake you made of releasing the Creature… I only have one thing to say to you."

Harlan spluttered wildly, teeth gnashing together.

"FUCK YOU!" I yelled, focusing my power and ripping the manifestation of Harlan Wade vertically in half, blood cascading down over Jin's body and onto the floor.

My eyes snapped open, as I instantly felt intense power course through my entire body. I yelled, a wordless howl of victory, as psychic energy radiated off of me in droves. Yellow smoke flowed freely from my eyes. I levitated several inches into the air, relishing all of the power that I now possessed.

I shut myself off from the source, landing on the ash softly.

"I think it worked," Stokes said with a smile.

"Oh yeah," I said, my voice hoarse. Glancing at the fallen doll, lying still in the ash. Stokes moved over and picked it up.

"So," came a voice I did not expect to hear. "Let's go save the world."

I turned, seeing Michael Becket, most of his forehead missing, standing next to Betters, arms crossed. So, Alma managed to help him pull himself together.

"How do we get to the Creature?" Betters asked, looking around. "The chopper's gone, and I don't see any bus routes."

I opened my eyes, power flowing from them again.

"Come here," I said, seeing my partners react to Alma's voice and my own speak the words. But, they all got close to me. I reached out, putting my arms on the shoulders of Stokes and Betters, and Becket reached forward and put his on mine.

I focused on the location of the Creature, using Alma's knowledge and power at this point.

We dissolved in the air, black ash hanging lightly in the wind.

Instantly, we were in Washington D.C., a random intersection. The Capitol Building was in the background, as people ran past us, either unaware or didn't care that we had simply appeared out of thin air.

"Holy shit," Stokes breathed, looking around.

"Sure beats flying," I said, Alma's voice still speaking with mine, glancing down the street in the opposite direction the people were fleeing.

There it was.

"You ready for a little revenge?" I asked Becket, who smiled, cracking his neck.

"You bet."

Stokes and Betters fell into step behind us, flanking us like they were our bodyguards, as we walked toward the Creature.

It had just liquefied another person, absorbing his essence through the blood and flesh that was ripped from his bones. It turned toward us, still dragging the carcass of Becket around like he was a doll.

"Shit," Becket said, gesturing to his body. "I deserve more respect than that."

_**YOU!**_

The thought of the Creature exploded into my head as it screamed at me in a rage. Reality began to distort around it, as nightmares began to force themselves from its subconscious into the real world.

"Betters, Stokes," I said. "You two deal with the ghosts."

"Uhh. Yeah, sure," Stokes said, laughing softly. "This is all just a trippy nightmare, anyway."

They broke off from us, guns blasting through the air, as the ghostly nightmares followed them through the park to our left, disappearing as they were impacted by a bullet.

I tapped into Alma and my power, levitating in the air softly.

This was it.

I was suddenly punched across the face, breaking my focus and causing me to collapse to one knee.

Becket stood over me, an evil grin on his features, yellow eyes burning.

"Remember me?"

I had to do a double take when I saw Becket leap from behind me and spear-tackle the Becket that was standing over me.

What the hell?

Concrete began to split and warp as the Creature stalked toward me, the two Beckets doing battle to my right, taking their fistfight into a parking lot.

I stood, refocusing. I was strong enough now to see the psychic energy that kept the Creature alive. It hung about its body like a storm cloud. Fear, hatred and anger radiated off of it in enormous waves. The Creature howled, swatting at me, causing me to flip over and land heavily on my stomach.

I grunted, feeling like someone had just shoved a vacuum down my throat, before pulling myself to my feet. I blasted the Creature in the side of the face, causing it to stumble as if I had punched it. I did it again, and again. Dried blood, black and crusty, began leaking from the nose and mouth of the Creature. It screamed, launching a whirlwind of psychic energy toward me. I swatted it away with my skeleton hand, but was blindsided by an attack from behind.

I fell face first into the concrete, grunting, as the Creature attempted another attack, one that would get me from both sides again.

I managed to roll aside, but was caught in the Creature's grasp, lifting me up off the ground several inches. The world began to take a sepia tint, as a black tentacle began erupting from the ground. It thrashed about, before lunging at me.

Becket flew in from the side and shoulder checked the Creature, causing it to stumble and alleviate its hold on me. I dodged the tentacle, lashing out with a blast that sent the Creature tumbling through the air.

Becket was instantly hit by a mid sized sedan that the other Becket threw. Becket grunted, crawling out from underneath the car, blood dropping from his nose and mouth.

And sniper rifle bullet wound in his head, of course.

I took off after the Creature, but was caught off guard and thrown across the street, smashing into a building.

I wasn't prepared for this, and I yelled in pain as I felt my shoulder pop. I landed on the ground and hunched over, aware of the increasing pain in my right shoulder, my one good arm. It was dislocated for sure.

I lifted my skeleton hand, splitting the concrete and sending a fissure toward the Creature. It teleported with a screech, landing behind me and raking its sharp fingers across my face, drawing blood. I cried out in surprise, I didn't think the Creature would result to physical violence, and punched it across the face.

The Creature staggered, surprised. Before launching another one of its double-sided attacks. I grunted as I felt both sides smash into me, like being hit from both sides by a bus, and collapsed to the ground, blood running from all of the wounds in my body.

The Creature stalked forward, hesitantly, as if it was unsure.

My vision blurred, and I had to relinquish my hold on my psychic power, it was difficult to even continue breathing.

Every breath hurt, every time I moved my eyes hurt.

Everything hurt.

_My baby._

I managed to push myself to a kneeling position.

_You will be a God among men._

I lashed out one final time, catching the Creature around its ankles. It fell over with a cry of surprise, and I used all of the power I had left to leap into the air.

With a roar that would put most denizens of the animal kingdom to shame, I put all of my psychic energy into one final attack.

With the sound of a bomb going off, the force of my psychic blast blew the street apart, causing an enormous plume of smoke to rise to the night sky. I landed, hard, grunting in pain and exhaustion.

I could still hear the gunfire of Stokes and Betters, as well as the grunting and fighting sounds of the Beckets. I stepped forward, collapsing to my knees in sheer weakness. All of the adrenaline, all of the psychic energy I had masking all of my pain was gone. I managed to drag myself along, sliding across the fractured and split asphalt on my bloody and torn up knees. I reached the edge of my attack, surprised at the crater that had formed in the center of the street.

The Creature lay still at the bottom of the crater, black blood and sewage water from the shattered pipes mingling at the bottom.

It was still alive, barely. Breathing heavily. Most of the bones that were visible through its pale skin were broken, pointed at weird angles. I wrapped my one working arm, the skeleton one, over the edge of the crater and hoisted myself down, landing hard in a pile of rubble and sewage water.

I somehow managed to get to my feet, standing over the defeated Creature. It stared at me through its sunken eyes, no power glowing in the darkness. Its mouth moved, as if it was trying to form words. I reached forward, grasping the psychic energies that kept it alive, like I had grabbed handful of cloth.

Fresh blood splattered over my boots, causing me to look down.

A cry emerged from below, and I blinked in surprise.

The Creature had given birth.

The baby, a healthy looking little girl, was crying in the rubble, umbilical cord still attached. I looked back into the eyes of the Creature, surprised. Its mouth was still working, hissing softly. It stopped, swallowing, and then continued.

"My… baby…"

Instantly I was hit by a freight train of guilt. It was just like Alma. I couldn't let that happen again.

"I'll protect your baby," I told the Creature. "I promise."

It seemed to understand me, as it nodded, and then rolled its head back to look at the sky.

I ripped the psychic energies away from the Creature, watching as the corpse that was my mother spasmed several times and then lie still.

The Creature was dead.

I broke the link between myself and my mother, and nearly collapsed from the lack of psychic support. I managed to stand up, gritting my teeth, and pulled the knife out of the sheath on my vest.

The baby was still crying as I reached down cut the umbilical cord with my combat knife. I gathered it up, holding the baby tightly in my skeleton arm.

"You alright down there?" the voice of Michael Becket came down from the top of the crater.

"Never better," I grinned, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground. Betters and Stokes appeared on the side of the crater, as I handed the baby to Stokes and allowed Betters to pull me up by my skeleton arm.

Becket stood, foot planted on the chest of the other Becket in victory. He wiped blood off of his face, and looked at surprise at the baby. It was quiet now; Stokes had rocked her tears away.

"Is that…" Becket took a few steps toward Stokes, looking down at the baby. He smiled, reaching out and brushing her head softly.

"I'll take good care of her," I said, looking at Becket. He stepped back, nodding, turning and seeing Alma walk down the street.

"I guess it's time to go," he said, walking toward her. Alma walked up to me, and I kneeled down to her level.

No words were spoken; they didn't need to be, as she threw her arms around my neck for the final time. She took a step back, tears in her eyes as she nodded at me. Becket saluted and, in a cloud of ash…

They were gone.

I turned, limping down the street with Betters and Stokes, as the sun began to come up beyond the Capitol Building.

"I don't think I can ever go back to a normal life after these past few nights," Betters muttered, as US army operatives and police officers started pouring out of the woodwork, trying to control the situation.

"So," Stokes said, looking at me. "What do we do now?"

I laughed, looking up at the sky.

"We live."

**-The End.**


	25. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

"Listen to me, Senator. I can still control this situation-"

"Genevieve, you lost control of the situation when Fettel took over. I was stupid to have gone along with this as long as I did. Millions are dead, two cities wiped off the face of the Earth. No, this goes no further."

"Senator, please-"

"Enough, Miss Aristide. I'm giving you a ten-minute head start because of our past. I suggest you start running."

* * *

**19 YEARS LATER**

"… We repeat, a toxic leak from the nearby power plant has possibly contaminated the groundwater here. The United States government has sent in the National Organization of Groundwater Contamination Prevention, in a move to possibly boost public opinion of the…"

The radio trailed off as we stepped forward to the police officer in charge. They had already successfully blocked off the entire town. Luckily the target point was right next to the security checkpoint.

"Agent Paxton Wade," I said, flashing my badge. "This is Agent Keira Stokes. We're here for the G.C.P.."

"Ah," the officer said, pulling the gate open. "Is the groundwater truly contaminated?"

"Not likely, sir. But we can't take any chances," Stokes responded, as we directed our lackeys through the gate, all of them wearing hazardous materials suits, carrying large crates.

"Equipment," I responded, catching the puzzled look of the officer. We entered the power plant quickly, locking the door behind us.

Stokes and I stripped off our trench coats, as the other four members stepped out of their haz-mat suits. They opened their crates, pulling out Kevlar and M4A1 assault rifles for everyone.

"Still weird you chose that name," Stokes said, zipping up her vest.

"I can't honor a dead brother?" I asked with a grin, pulling the KERNAL system on my eyes. I made sure the Kevlar sleeve that runs from my left shoulder down to my skeletal fingertips was still in place. I rubbed the patch on my left shoulder, the symbol of the United States Paranormal Investigation and Extermination Team.

"Energy levels were coming from below," the voice of Rowdy Betters crackled in our ears. "There should be a lift that takes you down."

"Roger," I said, my eyes flashing yellow as I commanded my squad, two leftover Replica soldiers, to fall in behind me. Stokes trusted real, live people, Navy SEALs who had been requisitioned into this new governmental organization.

We found the lift and pressed the down button, letting the lift take us down to a hidden basement.

The doors slid open with a whoosh, and we all moved forward, through the dark and trashed area. Computer monitors flickering static slightly illuminated the area, but not too much. We activated our flashlights and worked on securing the area.

"Clear," came the distorted voice of the Replicas.

"Clear," one of the SEALs responded.

"Clear," Stokes said.

I pointed my gun around the corner, finding…

Nothing.

"Clear," I breathed. We reconvened in the center of the room, the Replica soldiers leaning over a collapsed monitor and typing on the keyboard.

Everything here was trashed, but there was no rhyme or reason to it. One of the Replicas mentioned me to come over, and I read the last login on the computer screen.

"Genevieve Aristide," I said, as Stokes looked at me in surprise. Aristide was a fugitive, wanted for, according to the US Government, knowingly sabotaging the Fairport nuclear reactor.

"What the hell is this place?" I asked Stokes. She shrugged.

"Commander!"

We both walked over to where one of the SEALs was. He was pointing at something, hidden back in another room. The room appeared to have once been a janitor's closet, eyes widening in surprise.

"Is that what I think it is?" Stokes asked me, as I nodded solemnly, touching the earpiece on my KERNAL system.

"Betters. We may have a problem."

We both continued to stare into the closet, fear tickling our skin. A telesthetic amplifier sat in the closet, a near replica of the one on Still Island all those years ago.

Aristide gave herself psychic powers.

* * *

I lowered and locked the chain gate that blocked our store from vandals and burglars at night, dusting my hands off and turning around in the mall.

"Bye Rodrigo," I said, flashing the elderly janitor a smile, while brushing a loose lock of black hair back behind my ear.

"_Vaya con Dios_ Jen," he responded with a wave. I walked through the darkened mall, sipping on the very little remaining liquid in my iced coffee.

Dad hated me working the night shifts, but he was gone. On business. Like usual. I guess working for the National Organization of Groundwater Contamination Prevention was taxing and caused you to travel a lot.

Could've picked a better name though.

The mall was empty, like usual at this time, the only sound bouncing down the hall was the sound of Rodrigo's floor buffer.

A soft giggle made me stop in my tracks.

I turned, straw still in my mouth, glancing through the darkness toward the alcove leading to the nearest department store.

"Hello?" I asked.

The giggle sounded again, and I walked into the alcove.

A small red dress hung close to the ground. Another kid getting lost in here and forgotten about. I sighed.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, bending over. "It's okay, you can come with me."

She giggled again.

"What's your name?" I asked.

She stepped out of the shadow, her black hair cascading down her face, a small smile on her lips.

"My name is Alma."

* * *

**AUTHORS NOTES**

It's been a long, strange road, but _Her Name is Alma._ is finally finished. After a two-year hiatus, where I was busy with work and life, I returned to this story with the intent to finish it.

I originally wrote my version of F.3.A.R. before the release of the actual game, and it was much more different in the original iteration of my version of the story. I ended up rewriting the final two chapters, leading to what you see today.

The original version of the story had Becket as the enemy, and Corpse Alma (aka the Creature) decided to side with the Point Man, Fettel and Little Alma. Stokes and Manny were intended to die, and Jin would've lived to raise the baby with Point Man.

Point Man has taken on the name of Paxton Wade, while his daughter's name is Jennifer Alice Wade (Jen = Jin, somewhat).

If anyone wants to take my ideas that I've outlined here for F.E.4.R., go for it. I have **no intention** **of writing F.E.4.R. **at this point in my career. A psychically powered Aristide goes to wreck revenge on everyone who has betrayed her, especially the Point Man, Alma and his daughter.

Anyway, special thank you's to quite a few people.

-The various YouTubers I utilized to get a refreshment of the game, specifically 0verlord73's playthrough.

-ShadowLea for being the first reviewer of the story.

-ZeromaruChaosMode for constantly reviewing the story.

-The owner and staff of the C2 Anime, Books and Videogame stories: Greatest Hits, who put my story in that collection.

-All of the reviewers who motivated me to finish this story.

And finally, most importantly, all of the readers who made writing this story such an enjoyable event. Thank you all.

If you enjoyed this story, and wish to see others, feel free to put me on your author alert list and/or favorite author list. If you wish to get a hold of me, feel free to private message me, and I will try my best to respond as soon as possible.

Once again, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story!

-Roger Jones  
Roger the Shrubber

* * *

**FINAL STATS (as of the end of the story, 7/21/11)****  
Words (excluding Epilogue and A/N's): **99,332**  
Pages (Microsoft Word): **152**  
Hits: **22,124**  
Reviews:** 106**  
Favorites:** 61**  
C2s: **1


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